To Temper A Beast
by muse of the pen
Summary: Modern retelling! He was a spoiled brat who had gotten what he deserved, and she was just trying to survive. Neither one had expected to save the other. Chapters 1,2,3 are updated. Reviews are much appreciated! Disclaimer, I don't own rights to Disney, however my version of the characters and settings are my own. Rating is for some violence. Story is non smut.
1. Chapter 1

_**AN~ No you aren't crazy, I've reloaded this chapter. I'm doing final edits, mostly because I am insane. I hope you will all read it and give me some good feedback. I don't plan on doing it for every chapter but the first few definitely, there will be some major changes. Nothing to change the general outline of the story, but enough that it is necessary to go back and look over it. I found some major gaping holes in my plot and story line and I just couldn't NOT fix it. But anyway, please read it again. Humor my crazy and recommend me to your friends. Reviews are my drug. =)**_

Chapter 1

Pride Goes Before a Fall

Vincent Thorn was special. From the second he had taken his first breath it had been impressed on him how special he was. It was a gift that you were born into, not something you could just pick up at the local mall. He learned that it afforded you certain privileges not everyone was capable of obtaining. For instance, not everyone could have a whole town named after their family. Nor could everyone be rich and attractive and have not one, but three mansions to call home. Yes, Vincent enjoyed the perks of being special. To be adored and admired by all and to be given whatever he wanted.

However, the mighty always tend to fall at one point or another. People say you have to scrape the bottom of the barrel and lower yourself to the lowest point before you will be willing to accept how far you have fallen.

One can imagine the shock he felt then, when he left home for college. His charm didn't help him to gain access to classes that had already started for the day, nor did it help when he tried to turn in late assignments. He couldn't understand how they didn't see how special he was. Unfortunately, his parent's seemed to think along the same sides as his teachers. By his junior year of college, he was barely passing his classes and spending money at an alarming rate, hosting lavish parties at his down town, prime location condo on campus. In an effort to convince him to settle down and get serious about his future, they removed his access to his bank account. Without his money to supply all of his friends, he was no longer considered valuable. Vincent was deserted by those once called friends, shunned by the very people who once considered him almost to be royalty.

The young prince had been removed from his pedestal, but not thrown into the gutter completely. Unfortunately, he still had far to fall. He searched for something, anything to fill this new void in his life. He turned to gambling and alcoholism.

This was his final fall, the last drop from the royalty he had always thought he had been. This is the story of how the pampered, spoiled, arrogant child became a man of misery and how money can't buy you everything, especially love.

It was a typical Friday night for Vincent, the week before Christmas break. He was in the club, he had his brandy, women of a more provocative nature, and his recent and almost never ending hand of bad luck when it came to poker.

Vincent looked at his cards and then took another sip of his brandy in hopes that it would lessen the shaking in his hands. He was going to lose, yet again, and he knew it. It was the worst possible hand he could have been given. He looked around the room, and through the haze of smoke he could see the bouncers at the door that separated the private, high rolling room from the club. He could feel the vibrations to that stupid Lady Gaga song, Poker Face.

_Appropriate_, he thought, considering his current circumstances. When he lost he had no idea how he was going to pay up. He already owed Riley O'Malley forty thousand dollars and thoughts of owing another ten were not ideal. Vincent was unaccustomed to losing, and he didn't like the helpless, unprotected and uncomfortable feeling that accompanied it. Vulnerability didn't look good on him, Armani did.

O'Malley sat across the table from him ensconced in the embrace of two well-endowed women. Riley O'Malley was an Irish mobster who had left the crime ridden New York City streets to look for a new hunting ground. He picked the perfect place in a university town targeting young trust fund babies and swindling them out of their unearned money. He had a reputation for getting what was owed to him, one way or another.

The ginger gave him a shark smile, showing a couple of golden teeth. _This is definitely not good_, he thought. O'Malley knew Vincent was going to lose as well and what kind of shape his finances were in. P

Vincent pulled at the collar of his white button down linen shirt, suddenly feeling quite hot as sweat trickled down his neck and back. He could feel his heart beat erratically against his rib cage at the thought of what might happen to him if he lost again. People tended to disappear around O'Malley faster than the money he gambled with.

Before his parents had cut him off, fifty thousand dollars was considered to be pocket change. Hell, his college tuition had been more than that. Now with that safety net gone, he had been forced to see a touch of reality and feel a good dose of fear. He had seen the ugly side of being poor, and had been forced to suffer, all because his father thought he needed to learn a lesson.

"Well boy, what's it going be? From where I'm sitting it looks like you'll owe me again," Intoned O'Malley, in a pleasant voice that did not disguise his intentions at all.

Vincent tried to take in a deep breath of the smoke filled room and plaster his best fake smile onto his face before setting down his cards and saying, "Looks like you beat me again, O'Malley. Listen, I'll catch you next time on the bill, I'm short tonight. I wasn't expecting your eternal good luck." He stood, reaching for his cashmere jacket.

O'Malley slid back from the table slowly and laid out his own hand as he looked up at Vincent. He was calm and cool by the standards of the Irish. Calculating would have been a decidedly good word to use if Vincent's brain wasn't fuzzy from the brandy.

"I see. Blowing me off again, Kid?" O'Malley spoke calmly, but Vincent could feel the threat behind the words. _Shit_. He was in deep this time. He started to back away from the table his smile fading on his lips. O'Malley looked down at all of the chips he had accumulated on his side of the table and back up at him, meeting his eyes.

"You know this don't look good, right kid?"

Vincent hated it when O'Malley talked down to him like that. To be called _kid._ It was infuriating. O'Malley knew that Vincent wouldn't win the hand of poker and he knew that Vincent wouldn't be able to pay for the loss. It was like he expected it and took some sick pleasure in flaunting the fact that he owned him. _Or thought he owned,_ Vincent thought bitterly.

"Come on, man. You know I'll get you next time." He tried to reason with the gangster.

As if on cue, both women sat back to give O'Malley room to stand. They gave Vincent a pouty face like he had just disrupted the time of their lives. It was like they got off on pampering the Irishman and just being near him.

_Whores_, he thought knowing that they were being well paid for their services.

"Alright, next time, Kid. And you better bring plenty of money with you. You owe me."

O'Malley extended his hand to shake. Very much intimidated by O'Malley's 6'4" height, hesitantly Vincent reached out and grasped the man's hand, knowing that if he didn't, O'Malley would definitely think he was a child and a coward. O'Malley continued to tighten his grip on Vincent's hand and his cool, green eyes narrowed as he started to squeeze Vincent's hand in a vice grip, the celtic tattoo on his forearm flexing and rippling with muscle. It took all of his self-control not to gasp in pain as he felt the bones in his hand start to crack.

"This is just a reminder. Now get out." O'Malley spat, practically shoving Vincent away from the table.

Vincent all but ran for the door, knocking his chair over as he went, looking like every bit of the coward he actually was. Feeling O'Malley's eyes bore into his back, he darted across the room and between the two bouncers. He quickly tried to make his way through the crowd in the club with the bodies of his fellow classmates pressing in on him, blissfully unaware of Vincent's frantic attempt to exit the building.

The overwhelming heat and noise and alcohol disoriented him and he stumbled into people more than once, stepping on several sets of toes. Outside he hailed a cab back to campus to where his condo was. Feeling woozy and slightly claustrophobic in the back of the smelly cab, he rolled down the window desperate for a breath of fresh air. He watched as late night revelers strolled up and down the street, shouting to one another and dancing, a group here or a pair of blissful lovers there. _Sometimes it would be nice to be one of them_, he thought. No expectations, no debts.

Yet here he was being treated like a child who had left the milk out on the counter to go bad. It was O'Malley's fault really. O'Malley had taken his money and lost him his inheritance, and his families respect. If O'Malley hadn't gotten him into gambling this would have never happened in the first place. He chose to ignore the fact that his parents had cut his funds off long before that. It was always much easier to blame someone else. After all, he couldn't have done anything wrong, could he? It was always someone else's fault.

Vincent was more than a little intoxicated by this point and didn't notice the black sedan that followed him from the club to his private condo on the edge of campus. He stumbled from the yellow cab onto all fours as he got out, retching all over the sidewalk in front of his building, vaguely aware of the shrieks of fellow students as they tried to avoid his pool of sick. A young blonde, an heiress by the look of her, scathingly remarked how the homeless drunkards and junkies should be kept off the streets of the campus.

_Stupid bitch_, he thought as he drug himself to his feet and headed for the door to his condo. If she knew who she was talking about she would have a little more respect. Vincent made his way to his door stumbling a bit, his world still spinning. He fumbled with the key and finally got it into the lock and pushed it open into his apartment.

Vincent's condo was the epitome of modern luxury. He prided himself on always having the best. He stumbled again, collapsing onto his leather couch, not bothering to turn on his lights in order to avoid the bright glare of his pristine white walls. He reached for the bottle of liquor that always sat on the end table and took a long swig from it to rinse out his mouth and then sat back for a moment so the room would stop spinning. He didn't think he had had that much to drink in O'Malley's little gambling den. Usually his tolerance was much higher.

_Just my nerves_, He thought to himself taking a second gulp and nearly choking on the burning liquid.

Vincent sat on the couch for 10 minutes, almost in a stupor trying to not get sick again. He had just about beaten the nausea back and was congratulating himself for escaping an ass beating when his front door banged open. In stalked O'Malley and two very large and very muscular men, the last of which was carrying a baseball bat. The door slammed shut with a loud and ominous bang.

O'Malley flicked on the lights and then strode to the opposite wall to close the curtains over Vincent's sprawling view of the campus.

Vincent jumped and looked up with red, blood shot eyes to see them standing there_. What the hell was O'Malley doing in his house?_ He must have asked the question out loud because O'Malley turned to him and gazed at him for a moment before addressing his two companions with the answer.

"Boys, take a look here. This is a perfect example of why I left NYC. To many dumbass kids running around acting like they own the world just because Mommy and Daddy pay for everything. I get tired of self-important, pompous, jack asses. Being a hard-working man, that offends me. Especially when they think they are better than me." O'Malley advanced on Vincent, rolling up his shirt sleeves and unbuttoning his collar as he approached, getting more worked up by the second. He jerked the bat from the third man and used it to shatter Vincent's 56" plasma flat screen. Vincent tried to swallow the large lump that had formed in his throat but it wouldn't budge. His heart was beating erratically against his rib cage again.

"I've worked hard to create my establishment here. To work under the radar of our fine protective officers of the law. And a little punk like you tends to set a bad example for the rest of the morons out there and I'm forced to correct it. It's bad business practice. But what would you know about that? You don't pay for a damn thing in your life! You expect everything to be handed to you!" Here O'Malley picked up the blue ray player and threw it against the wall where it shattered and then crashed to the floor. Vincent flinched at the noise.

"You know Thorn, I don't much like you. Always using Daddy's money to bail you out, expecting others to clean up your mess." O'Malley said, continuing on with his rant.

Here he had one of his men pull Vincent off the couch and hold him up right. Vincent swayed for a moment, finding that his legs didn't want to work properly and without the two men he would have fallen. O'Malley paced in front of him a moment longer and then stopped long enough to punch Vincent in the nose.

Vincent staggered between the two men and felt where his nose had broken. Blood ran down into his mouth and down his chin. He coughed and it splattered his shirt front.

"It's a damn shame and a waste," O'Malley continued as if nothing had happened. "I hate it!" Again he threw a punch, making contact this time with Vincent's jaw. With a resounding crunch, Vincent felt his jaw break. Even drunk, the pain registered, white hot and nearly blinding. Spots popped in front of his eyes like small neon stars.

"Please," Vincent sagged between the two men, trying to beg as blood ran down his chin from his nose and mouth, choking him with its metallic taste and absorbing into his wrinkled white shirt, turning it a bright scarlet.

"Mercy, Eh? You want me to show your thieving, no good ass, mercy? I've already given you enough as it is. You owe me, kid. Not the other way around." He gripped the bat in his hands and cracked his neck, taking a moment to assess the situation.

"I'm going to enjoy this," he said, grinning manically down at Vincent.

This time O'Malley took the bat and swung it like a pro ball player into Vincent's stomach. He gasped and tried to shout in pain, his breath completely knocked out of him. The two men dropped him and allowed him to sag to the floor onto his knees. He barely saw the bat as O'Malley swung it the second time. He flinched as it stopped an inch from the side of his head, where it hesitated. Vincent dared not look up as he gasped on all fours like an animal, trying to regain his breath.

"No. I think I am going to keep you awake for this. A lesson needs to be learned here," O'Malley drawled, his faint Irish accent becoming more pronounced. Instead the bat made contact with his left shoulder, then his right. Vincent saw through blurry vision as O'Malley swung the bat into his ankle and then he felt it crack. After that his nerve sensors stopped feeling the continued beating. It went on and on, Vincent screaming until his vocal cords were raw. He was barely conscious by the time O'Malley stopped.

His blood was everywhere. A large puddle was pooling on his black and white checkered kitchen floor. He could see its vivid red color standing out against the stark pattern. O'Malley knelt down to look Vincent in the eye.

"You're a damned filthy animal. Look at yourself! Just look at you! Where's your pride now? You're pathetic. If you survive this, your debt is forgiven. If you don't, I suppose it won't matter. This is my payment to society. I'm cleaning the streets of vermin." Vincent flinched as O'Malley dropped the bat on the floor next to his head where it clanged loudly.

O'Malley rose and then spat on him for good measure before he turned back to his men.

"Alright boys, clean up the mess. You've got two minutes to meet me in the car. Let this be a lesson to you as well."

And O'Malley walked out. Vincent lay gasping on the floor. Tears ran down his face mixing with the blood. His stomach turned and he vomited, his body convulsing with the pain. It was unreal to think he was still alive let alone conscious. His nerves burned, every sensor in his body on overload.

And he could smell brandy. It was everywhere, permeating the room. Vincent was dimly aware of being picked up from the floor and dumped onto the couch. The smell of alcohol was even stronger. The two henchmen were pouring it on him. God it burned on the open wounds. He just wanted it to all end. To die here.

Then they lit a match and dropped it onto the brandy soaked carpet. It was almost instantly engulfed in flames. It raced across the floor, up the walls, the curtains. Even the couch was on fire. Vincent looked down and through swollen eyes saw that his broken foot was burning, the skin looking like hot wax as it melted. Instead of panic sweeping through him, he oddly couldn't feel the pain anymore. He didn't even bother to try to move his foot from the flames. Everything was going dark anyway. This was to be it. He was going to burn to death in a pool of his own blood and vomit. At least his body had finally gone into shock, blissful and painless.

And then faintly, as if coming from another realm all together, he heard it. Sirens. He saw the firemen knock down the door right before the smoke and shock forced him into unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Curse

The first thing Vincent was aware of was the pain. It was hard not to be. Everything hurt. It was beyond pain. It was agony. The second was a sort of ringing in his ears alongside a low beeping sound and the third was voices, soft and quiet, soothing almost. They sounded familiar.

"He should be waking anytime now, sir. We are cutting the anesthesia enough for him to wake up if he can."

"I see. What are his chances of recovery? Just be honest with me. He has been in a coma for almost two weeks. I need to make arrangements if my only son is going to die. I don't want to keep paying for life support if he is going to be a vegetable."

Slowly Vincent came closer to the edge of consciousness. It was like trying to swim from the bottom of a deep pool where gravity tried to keep you crushed down. The ringing in his ears was slowly quieting and giving way to a more prevalent beep.

"Well, we were able to stop the internal bleeding. He won't be paralyzed, if that's what you're wondering. With the severity of the beating on top of almost burning to death, he's lucky to be alive let alone being able to walk again. I don't know if he will regain sight in his left eye or not, it's too early to tell. Walking is going to be difficult, but not impossible. He's young, so he should recover if he has the right attitude for it. His ribs and collarbone will eventually heal too. The cosmetic surgery will fix his jaw and mouth. But I'm afraid his burns are going to scar. Yes, with skin grafts it will help him heal, and the pain will lessen dramatically over time and eventually stop, but there is no getting rid of them. The scars are going to show for the rest of his life. Thankfully there was no severe nerve damage all over his body, just on his ankle and face."

"I see," Said the voice again. It sounded so familiar to him.

Vincent was almost sure it was the voice of his father. He hadn't spoken to him in almost six months, but the more conscious he became the more he recognized his father's voice. He finally managed to open his one good eye to a slit. He could feel the swelling trying to force it back. His other eye was covered in a bandage that wrapped around part of his head. God it hurt, but he could just make out his father's figure standing next to a woman in green scrubs. He looked gray, and forlorn, and he hadn't shaved in several days. His Armani suit was wrinkled, but it was him.

"Dad?"

Was that him that noise came out of? It was meant to be a word but it sounded like a babies gurgle. But his father had heard him. He looked over at Vincent and then politely asked the doctor to excuse them. She smiled, nodded and left saying she would be back in 5 minutes to check his vitals. His father walked over to the chair beside his bed and Vincent heard him sit down. He was unable to turn his neck, which felt as if it was strapped in. He heard a sigh and then silence for another moment. The only other sound was the drone of the many machines he was hooked to.

"Vincent. How far are you willing to go, son?" The sound was disappointment not concern when his father finally spoke. Vincent felt a small bubble of anger form in what he assumed was still his stomach. His father took no notice and continued on.

"Your recovery is going to be a long one. The doctor says six more months in here for you to heal and then six months of physical therapy and rehab. It will be another year before you are close to being as close to normal as they can get you. Your foot won't heal properly and your skin will be scarred for life. You're lucky to be alive. What happened, son? Who did this to you?"

"O'Malley,"

It was barely audible but his father heard. He turned white, then red with rage. His voice when he spoke though, was very controlled and calm. "And I'm assuming you were gambling again?"

His father seemed to take his silence for a yes.

"I see. Well son you leave me no choice. When you are finally released, you will go stay at Thorn manor. God knows I've tried to protect you. But I can't protect you from your own stupidity unless I remove you from it. You'll have Percy with you. But your mother and I are too busy to spend every waking hour with you to hold your hand and make sure what's left of your half- baked brain doesn't get you into more trouble. For god sakes, you're twenty three! When will you learn responsibility?" His father fell silent after the rant, breathing heavily.

Vincent glared out of his one good eye. The injustice of it all was crashing down on him. Here he was more than 3/4 dead, lying in a hospital bed and it was his fault? He didn't beat himself up or try to set himself on fire. Where did his dad get off treating him like he was 8? In his current state he wasn't even capable of defending himself verbally, let alone physically. His father stood, sweeping up his coat and looked down at him.

"I've got to go, son. I have to go and clean up your mess. I'll have the manor prepared for your stay. I'll be in touch. Your mother is waiting." And with that, Vincent watched his father stalk out of the room. A moment later Percy walked in. He was the family's butler for all intents and purposes and had always cared for Vincent growing up, being the one constant in his life when his parents were off on business trips and traveling. The old man smiled down at him.

"Good afternoon, Sir. If you need anything just let me know, I'll be out in the hall. Just push that button." He told him kindly, before he swept out of the room as well. Instead of feeling abandoned Vincent reveled in the moment of solitary he was afforded. His life was in shambles. He was going to be a crippled monster for the rest of his life.

The next six months were maddening. He had suffered severe burns, had broken his hip, shoulders, both arms, both legs, shattered his ankle, all of his ribs had been cracked or broken, as well as a chip on his spine. Not to mention all of his internal bruising. He spent the first 3 months hooked to a feeding tube because his jaw had been wired shut in order to heal. He then underwent surgery after surgery. Skin grafts, resetting of bones. The constant waiting and boredom in between his drug induced coma's, when strangers would come in to poke and move him to check his healing progress. The pain. And then the task of weaning him off of the pain killers was almost as bad as the surgeries. His father visited once. His mother didn't come at all. Most days he spent alone and miserable, unable to do anything but feel supremely sorry for himself.

Being bedridden for the first six months was the worst he had thought. He needed someone to change his catheter at first, then his diapers. Someone needed to bathe him and clothe him and feed him. It was humiliating.

It was a relief when he was finely deemed well enough to be put into a wheel chair and taken to the rehab center where he would have to relearn to walk with his broken and mismatched feet. The rehab was nearly worse than the hospital.

He had always been into sports and physical activities and now it was all he could do to walk across the room with a cane. It was painful and frustrating but eventually there was progress. His bruising had finally begun to fade away and he could draw a deep breath without agonizing pain. His skin though. His face, his eye, his arms and legs. It was a thing to behold to say the least.

The first time he had caught sight of himself in a mirror after four months he nearly had a mental break down. He didn't speak for three days. They had shaved his hair to be able to do the skin grafts on his left cheek and around his eye. He had once spent hours in front of them preening his dark brown hair making sure it gelled to perfection. Making sure he picked the proper colors of browns, greens and blues that went with his eyes and tan. He hadn't lost his eye sight completely but his left eye was much worse than his right and he now was recommended to wear glasses, which he at first refused. His hair finally started growing back in. He was going to let it grow out to help hide his face.

From what he could tell it hadn't done much good to have the surgeries. His skin was varying shades of pink and red now, shiny and stretched in some places and wrinkled in on top of itself and rough in others, like a candle that had burned to long and the wax had been allowed to drip and run. He couldn't stand to look at the sight of his own reflection and had broken the mirror in his room. The rehab wisely did not replace it for the duration of his stay.

All he felt now when he looked into a mirror was a constant burning shame at how far he had fallen. An angel now to look like a demon. It was almost as if he had been cursed. Before he had stood proudly and now he had a hunched look about him, nothing noteworthy left in his bearing at all.

When he had first moved to the rehab center he had been thin in the extreme, only skin and bone from where he couldn't walk and refused to eat most days when the feeding tube had finally been removed. Regaining his strength had been a challenge. Only when the doctors informed him that he wouldn't be released unless he started showing progress, did he finally concede in his recommended diet and treatment.

Finally the blessed day of his release came. He got up that morning and limped to the shower. It still took way longer to try to step over the low wall but it was better than being sat on a shower seat by Helga. He brushed his hair out which now hung down in his face and mostly covered the scar. With his glasses you almost couldn't see it. But he still wasn't what he used to be. He looked like a bum. And his parents had shown that they thought no better of him as well. He pulled on a plain t-shirt and sweats and slid into a pair of sandals because of the wrap that was still on his ankle, then pulled on a hooded jacket and flipped the hood up over his head. Percy walked in and handed him the cane that he would now always have to walk with and then reached and grabbed his bag for him.

"When you're ready, Sir." He said.

Vincent limped after him, leaning heavily on his cane. He went straight to the Mercedes with tinted windows that was parked out in front of the lobby of the rehab, yanked the door open and slid into the back seat slamming the door. His father had promised him that if he moved to the lower foot hills of Virginia, to the family's plantation, and stayed out of trouble, he would relinquish the hold he had put on Vincent's inheritance. Being exiled to his own home cut off from his own family spoke volumes to how awful his life was. Which exile from his parents by now could hardly be considered a punishment.

He wanted no contact with other people. He had discovered that his worst fears were true and that he was not fit to look at when a young blonde nurse had come in one morning with his breakfast and had screamed and dropped his tray and didn't come back. Not that he had anyone to live it up with now. No one, not one single friend from his former life had bothered to call him after the attack. No ex-girlfriends, nothing. Total radio silence. It was to be him, Percy and Ginny the cook from now on.

Percy put Vincent's single bag into the trunk and then made his way around the car, opened the driver's door and slid into his place, cranked the car and slowly pulled off the curb and into traffic.

"Are my parents going to be there?" Vincent asked. Percy looked into the rear view mirror at him.

"I'm afraid not. They had business to attend to, but they send their love and hope you get along well enough without them."

"I bet they do." snarled Vincent. And that was the last words spoken between the two for the rest of the car ride. It was a long two hour journey before they were driving through the small downtown area of Thorn. Vincent had plenty of time to sulk. Of course his parents wouldn't have bothered to come see him. His father had only seen him three separate times since he had first been placed in the burn unit at the hospital, and only once at the rehab center. His mother hadn't come at all. Bitterness filled him up like a poison.

By sundown they had reached the old stone manor house. It was early autumn and the leaves were turning brilliant shades of orange, red and gold. The manor was three stories and had a tower on one end. The setting sun and the fall colors made a beautiful scene, but Vincent did not notice it. It had been years since he had been there. The lawn had been mown recently the house was clean and in good repair. Grand even. However, golden bars did nothing to disguise the fact that this house was now, for all intents and purposes, his prison.

Percy parked the Mercedes in the driveway and Vincent waited for him to come around and open his door. His now mismatched feet and cane crunched on the gravel as he made his slow progress up the stairs and onto the porch where Ginny the cook, was waiting. She opened the door and led him inside. She bypassed the massive marble staircase, heading for a room towards the back of the house. Vincent ignored her and headed toward the stairs, gripping the rail with one hand and his cane tightly in the other.

"Vincent, I've fixed your room on the first floor so you won't have to-" she started when she saw him attempting to climb the stairs, but he cut her off with a low growl.

"I am not going to be treated as some sort of invalid. It's my house and I will stay where the hell I want to. Is that clear?" he said.

"Yes, of course, I didn't mean to offend -" Ginny started in a chastised voice.

"Take my things to the tower. I'll want my dinner served there too," He ordered, speaking over her, before continuing to try to climb the rest of the way up the stairs. He looked behind him and saw that Ginny was standing at the foot of the stairs bobbing up and down nervously watching his progress with concerned eyes.

"GO! I'm not some circus freak!" He shouted. With a nervous squeak she departed, shuffling off to find Percy to tell him what had taken place and to get his dinner.

By the time he reached the top of the stairs, Vincent was sweaty and exhausted. The climb had been very hard and he gasped for air for a moment before heading off down another hall and to another flight of stairs. It took him ten long and agonizing minutes to get into the tower.

It was just as he remembered when he was a child with a large, four post, king sized bed, a couch, an old fashioned roll top writing desk that would now house his laptop and other odds and ends. Like the rest of the house for the most part all the furniture was heavy, dark, mahogany in a Victorian gothic style. A magnificent stone fireplace stood along one wall and floor length windows added to the grandeur. It was a very beautiful room with a separate room that housed a massive bath. Most importantly to Vincent, it was very private. He had spent the last year being poked and prodded by strangers and he now wanted to be left alone more than anything.

Vincent sat in the overstuffed, large arm chair while Percy brought all of his things up from what was going to be his bedroom and lit a fire in the grate to knock some of the chill out of the tower. Ginny soon brought in a large, covered silver tray and set it down on an end table for him. She and Percy stood by for a moment awkwardly waiting on him to say anything else.

"You can leave," he snapped. Without a word both scuttled from the room, leaving him in his solitude. He limped to the tray and pulled off the cover to reveal a thick and hearty beef stew, green beans, carrots and for desert a miniature cake that said Welcome Home in buttercream icing, his favorite.

A single tear fell down his cheek as he gazed at it. Then after a moment he cleared his throat, and sat down to his solitary meal. Vincent Thorns life as an outcast had officially started.

The next few weeks, He, Percy and Ginny became accustomed to one another for the first time in nearly four years. Pretty soon they learned to deal with his temper tantrums and for the most part just ignored him and occasionally scolded him. They knew that they were well paid for dealing with Vincent and that the Thorn's would be unable to find anyone else willing to care for the boy on the level he needed. That and deep down they cared very much for the young man and pitied him. Not for his scars and mutilation but for his loneliness, sadness and abandonment.


	3. chapter 3

_**~AN~**_

_**Yes, it's the same chapter. I'm doing final edits on everything for the last time, I hope. For old friends, expect to see small tweaks here and there. For my new readers, please leave me some reviews and let me know what you think! Just hang in there with me as I go through the edits. It's a tedious process. Don't hold chapters 4-15 against me! Lol. I'll get them all done eventually and finally be able to hit the complete button!**_

_**-MUSE **_

Chapter 3

Rose Thorns

The township of Thornwall was your typical, southern, quiet, country town. It had one major intersection, four churches, a grocery store, a cinema, one car lot and a small mini strip mall with a book shop, a bakery, a florist and other boutiques. At one time it had been a prosperous manufacturing town with the mill positioned right on the river and lots of outlying farm land. However twenty years prior it had caught on fire and now the burned shell of what was left of the building stood as a reminder of more prosperous times.

After the mill burned it had been commissioned by the neighboring town as a historical site. With no work left many moved on. Some however stayed, and for a whole 3,284 population rate, it was needless to say, connected. Everyone knew who was sleeping around, cheating on a spouse, the best deal at the grocery store, who's child was having trouble with potty training and the latest fashions at the mall. So of course the return of the family who had been responsible for the naming of the town almost a century ago did not go unnoticed and was fresh off the presses as far as gossip was concerned.

Being one of the grandest and oldest houses around, it had been a popular topic of conversation. The place had been shut up for almost 20 years since the fire, and before then the family rarely visited. Many hoped for an invitation to be nosey and to investigate the house and its mysterious occupants. Needless to say the invitations were not sent forth. Many speculated over the strange situation and the fact that no one was ever seen coming or going from the old mansion.

The grounds became over grown and a large hedge grew covering the wall surrounding the place. The ornate, iron gate was the only way in or out. One precocious teen, who had been brave enough to try climbing the gate, soon returned visibly shaken, saying that he had been attacked by a shadowy assailant. He claimed that it had been a crazy man, more demon than human. He was scarred, had a hunched back and walked with a cane. He was of cruel tongue and bitter temper. The gossip spread like wildfire, each retelling more gruesome than the last. Even the mail man, who had been considered to be unafraid of anything, would not venture past the gate.

Vincent Thorn may have thought he was living out a prison sentence as a freak, but it wasn't even close to the life of Arrianna Davidson and the hell she endured. She didn't care about the so-called monster living in the mansion, or whether he sprouted fangs or not. She was only interested in surviving, living with her abusive, alcoholic and drug addicted father. He was the only monster she had time for in her life.

Arrianna had grown up in and out of the foster system after her mother died because more often than not her father was in jail or too drunk or high to care for her. When he wasn't in jail, he spent most of his time stoned at home on the sagging couch. His addictions had cost her more than a warm meal more times than she cared to remember over the years.

At school Arrianna had had no one. No friends to talk to or confide in. She spent most of her days in quiet ridicule of her fellow students and pity amongst the teachers, with her nose buried in a book and her hair hanging in her face to hide the bruises. When someone would ask, she would insist that it was nothing. Always turned her assignments in on time and maintained descent grades. The last thing she wanted was to draw any unneeded attention and have someone investigate her home life, which she knew would result in being placed in a group home. Somehow, though, she got through it. One day at a time.

She was a tall, fair, girl with long, bright red hair and piercing light blue eyes. She was almost always found to be wearing cast offs, most of which had been dumped on her door step growing up as a local charity of the different churches. Most articles were very careworn, stained, torn and ill fitting. Most days she looked like a homeless person who modeled for the local the thrift store.

After graduation she spent all of her time in the local flower shop that her mom had once worked in, trying to keep them afloat, keeping the power and water on. It was her place of solitude. The lady who owned the shop came in on Saturdays to pay bills and that was it. She was basically left to her own devices while her father stayed stoned. She could sit and read and ponder the unfairness of her life and occasionally dream about ways to escape it.

She was doing just this, midmorning when the tinkling of the little bell on the front door pulled her out of her stoic thoughts. An older man, dressed neatly in kakis and a plaid shirt walked in, examining the display of hand tied roses on the rack next to the register. Arrie couldn't remember ever seeing him before. It was a small town, and even though she kept to herself, she still knew who almost everyone was.

"Morning," she mumbled, setting down the roses she was pruning and wiped the water residue from her hands.

"Good morning!" He greeted her with more enthusiasm than the situation warranted, she thought.

"These roses are beautiful!" he commented, picking up a bright orange dozen of the flowers.

"Thank you. Would you like a dozen? They are on special right now." She asked as politely as she could manage. Her shop didn't get many costumers, so her social skills were dreadful when it came to customer service.

"Oh, no, I'm just looking. I'm new in town, thought I would just stop in. But thank you." He replied setting them back down and turning his attention to look at an arrangement of red roses.

Feeling awkward, Arrianna returned her attention to the flowers as he turned to leave. She looked up when she heard the bell sound again and felt her stomach drop a few inches. Her father had come staggering into the shop. She could smell the musty scent of pot and the reek of stale liquor ten feet away. The gentleman stopped as he reached the door and slowly turned back to watch the exchange.

"I need some money." Danny Davidson had to hold onto the counter to keep from falling down he was so stoned. His words were so slurred that had Arrianna not known what he wanted, she wouldn't have been able to understand him. His eyes were red and glassy. There would be no dinner tonight. Unless liquid was on the menu.

The old man was still standing there watching as she fumbled to open the drawer and handed over the cash. She could feel the old man's eyes burning into her as she quickly slammed the drawer shut. The coins jingled as they were displaced, sounding overly loud in her ears. Her father counted the bills slowly and deliberately and then looked up at her. She could see the old man standing by the door a look of concern on his face.

_Please leave_, she silently willed of him. She liked to keep her personal torment private if she could.

"You little bitch. There's less in here than there usually is." He growled. Her stomach dropped a little more and she could feel her heart begin to race.

"It's been quiet in here this morning, Dad. I'm sorry no one's been in." She tried to explain in a low and reasonable tone.

Her father glared at her a moment longer trying to focus his eyes before he spat in her general direction. Then knocking the roses to the floor he lurched from the shop shoving the man as he passed. Arrianna quickly dropped to the floor to grab the roses as the older gentleman approached the counter, her hands shaking fiercely.

"Are you alright?" He sounded concerned. A tone she wasn't used to.

"I'm fine. You should probably leave now." She told him in clipped tones from her crouched position on the floor. She hated the blush she could feel spreading up her neck and across her face, her eyes stinging with unshed tears. And an audience only made it worse.

"Don't you have anywhere else to go?"

_Wow this guy couldn't take a hint_, she thought as she rose back up and brushed the back of her hand across her eyes.

"If I had somewhere to go, do you think I would still be here?" She asked more fiercely than she meant to.

"Are you sure I can't help?" he pressed.

_God he's nosey._

"Unless you have a new job and somewhere for me to stay, then no you can't help me." She told him bitterly, turning away.

"That could be a possibility. We could use an extra pair of hands at Thorn manor." He said.

Arrianna's mouth fell open. That was the last thing she expected. After a moment she regained movement of her jaw.

"You're joking?" Arrie snorted in derision, no longer worried about being rude.

"Listen, sir, Thanks, but no thanks . I've heard people talk about what happened to Jesse Conner, and what that guy did to him. He's a creep. More monster than man. I'll take my chances with what I know. Besides, I have a plan. I'm getting out of here eventually." She told him matter-of-factly.

The old man gave her a piercing look before replying.

"Well if you change your mind you know where we will be. I'll have these before I go, how much for them?" he asked and indicated the dozen red roses that he had perused before.

"Twenty five even." Arrianna told him, wrapping the flowers in green paper. She reached to readjust one of the roses and a hidden thorn dug into her left hand, drawing blood. Cursing under her breath she grabbed a roll of paper towels and pressed one to the wound. The old man leveled his gaze on her and then reaching out, picked up the roses and placed a crisp fifty dollar bill on the counter in their place.

"Funny flowers, roses. Their thorns can be vicious. People can forget sometimes, even pretty things can be dangerous. Keep the change. Have a good day." He said cryptically.

And with that the old man swept from the shop, leaving Arrianna slightly confused. Then seeing the roses on the floor, the petals already wilting she shook her head_. _ She had always been down trodden and probably always would be. She knew what people said about her. How she was white trash and would never go anywhere in her life even though she worked hard for what little she had. People like her didn't catch a break. It was always just surviving. Making it to the next day as unscathed as possible.

Arrianna had a plan and she had been honest when she told the strange old man she would be leaving this all behind one day. She had worked since she was fifteen years old and had scraped and saved all that time, taking beatings and going hungry. She no longer accepted charity that people sent her way unless she could pay for it. In her room in her small rundown little house she had a little over five thousand dollars hidden under her floorboard. She planned to buy a ticket on a bus and just leave it all behind. She had enough to pay for her to take a couple of semesters of college.

She would need a job and a place to stay. And having no friends or relatives left her with few options until now. Her goal was to stay as invisible as possible and to be thankful her father forgot he had a child on most days. If nothing in her twenty years had stuck she had at least learned that life was hard, and it only got harder and nothing was free, and what was, wasn't worth having, but with an education she might could get somewhere.

Arrianna spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the shop and arranging flowers for the closing time rush when husbands would stop to pick up a little something on the way home for their wives. Usually she split the money and hid half in her floor board at home and gave the other half to her father for his drug money. Today had been a descent day with the extra twenty five dollars.

She was going to have to hide it, knowing that if she came home with extra money after his little visit, Danny would be furious, thinking she had purposely hid it from him instead of her actually earning a descent tip. He would be coming down off a pretty steep high and she didn't want to be the end result. After the last costumer was out the door she closed down the shop and locked up.

Arrianna pulled the hood of her sweatshirt up against the late autumn wind. She walked home every day. It was a two mile trek rain or shine, heat or freezing temperatures. She lived on the far end of Main Street on the outskirts of town. Her house was one of the old mill village houses and it was in pitiful condition. It was nestled in between two massive oaks, and whenever it stormed she worried that the old trees would fall on the little house and crush it. Still at least it was home for now. As she got closer she was pleased to see the rust bucket her father used as a car wasn't in the driveway. If she was lucky, he may have taken the money from the store and split for the next two or three days. That was always nice. It was kind of like your own mini vacation as far as she was concerned.

Arriana stepped through the door and slid the deadbolt home, a feeling of relief settling over her. Her eyes glanced over the peeling kitchen cabinets in the living room-kitchen combo and wondered what she would do for dinner. She threw her bag on the sagging, stained sofa and headed towards the cabinets intent on rummaging through them. She settled for a can of tomato soup and stale crackers for dinner and lit the old stove.

On her way back to the living room she noticed her bedroom door was slightly ajar. That was odd. She always left it closed. A sense of foreboding slipped into Arrianna's stomach as she moved to the door and pushed it open, flicking on the single naked bulb that dangled from the ceiling.

A strangled cry of despair ripped from her throat at the sight that met her eyes. Her room had been ransacked and her dresser had been shoved out of its usual spot over the loose floorboard. She ran to the spot and fell to her knees desperately sticking her hand into the dark hole. When her fingers gripped nothing but air and the tips scrabbled against the sides, she knew the horrible truth. Her money was gone. All of it. Every last penny.

Her father had taken everything.

Arrianna collapsed onto the mattress that lay in the floor and sobbed. It wasn't enough that she starved, and went without on a regular basis. He had officially taken her dream away from her. She would have to start again. Five years of hard work saving and within less than a day it was all gone.

Eventually her tears ran dry and she got up off the mattress. She wrapped her thread bare quilt around herself and slumped to the kitchen in misery to pour her soup into a chipped mug. Then heading back into her room, Arrianna started to clean up the mess. She lit a couple of candles to help warm the chilled air as she shoved the dresser back into its place and rearranged the photos on top. She wished her mom was still alive, still there to fix problems like this.

People used to whisper about what went on behind closed doors at the Davidson house. Everyone knew what he did to her. Arrie stared at one picture. It had been taken when Arrie was seven. It had been in the middle of summer. The back yard had been a riot of colors with flowers in full bloom. Yet her mother wore long sleeves and jeans to hide the bruises on her arms and legs from where Danny hit her. Arrie still remembered the last time she had seen her mother. For a moment she allowed herself to get lost in the painful memory.

It was like it was yesterday. She had been playing in the back yard when she heard the shouting and screaming inside the house. She had looked up in time to see her mom come running out the back door, down the steps carrying an old duffel bag. She had scooped Arrie up and hugged her, telling her that everything would be alright and that she would come back for her in a few days. Then Danny had walked out the back door still shouting, brandishing an old leather belt. Evelyn had set Arrie back down and run across the street to a car waiting by the curb. The sound of squealing tires was the only thing left in her wake as she disappeared down the road. Danny had returned to the house slamming the screen door behind him. When Arrie had gone inside she had found her dad slumped on the couch with a bottle of liquor in one hand the belt in the other.

"Useless" he had slurred at Arrie before unexpectedly grabbing her by the arm and yanking her to him.

"You're mine, kid. You ain't leaving with that bitch! She won't take you from me." He had shouted at her. Frightened, Arrie had gone straight to her room and locked the door, just like her mom had taught her to do whenever dad would get angry. Two days later a police officer came to the house to inform Arrie and Danny that Evelyn had been killed in a car accident. That was the first time Danny had ever whipped her with the belt. He had begun to drink and in a rage he had whipped Arrie until her legs bruised.

Looking at the picture of her and her mom, Arrie's resolve hardened. She would just have to think of something. She could just wait until her father came home and she would demand to know where her money was. He wouldn't take another damn thing from her. She was tired of being pushed around. She was leaving, one way or another and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Over the next couple of days, the last burst of warm autumn air swept through like a final warning before winter set in. At work, many people were ordering their Thanksgiving holiday centerpieces and cash inflow was up. At the end of the day she closed down, and decided to throw caution to the wind and go to the grocery store and get something nice for dinner. She had a little extra cash from her tip jar due to the fact that Danny still hadn't turned up, meaning she was enjoying a quiet reprieve with his prolonged absence.

What was left of the few fall leaves were being blown from the trees with a vengeance and a hint of thunder was in the air. It looked as if the warm spell was over. Arrie pulled the hood to her sweatshirt up, slung her messenger bag over her shoulder and stepping out into the wind, headed for the store. The clouds were piling up quickly as she ran into the grocery. She quickly made her way to the deli. They had a half roasted rotisserie chicken left, and some warm rolls. Arrie had just bent to place her items in the cart and was going to go pick up a couple of cans of soup and ramen when she heard a giggle that made her gut pool with uneasiness. She looked down at the end of the aisle to see Courtney, Kelsie & Kassidy. They were with their mothers, who were doing their own shopping and were not bothering to keep their conversation to themselves. Apparently the golden trio of High School hell was home from college for fall break.

"Oh. My. God. She is still here? Look at her jeans they are filthy!"

"Look at that sweat shirt! People shouldn't be allowed in here if they are going to dress like that. I mean people buy food here." More giggling erupted from the group. Arrie felt the blood rush to her face.

"I know right? I guess not everyone moved on after high school." Kelsie sniffed, looking disdainfully down the aisle at her.

"Girls, that's enough. You know how unfortunate her situation is." Arrie didn't know if Mrs. Hayes comment had made the situation better or worse by this point. But Kelsie wasn't done yet.

"I heard her father gets drunk and beats her." She said in a loud whisper that carried through half of the store.

"Kelsie, that is enough!" Mrs. Hayes snapped. The trio swept past Arrie not looking at her. Arrie looked up in time to see Kelsie turn the corner and mouth the word _trash_ at her as she twiddled her fingers in a farewell.

Arrianna's face burned as red as her hair with the shame and embarrassment of the conversation. She didn't know what was worse, being seen as unfortunate or white trash. She grabbed her ramen and completely forwent the peanut butter in an effort to get out of the store. Outside the wind was worse and icy drops of rain were beginning to fall. Arrie ran for the house, lugging her groceries with her. When she got home it was pouring and the flush had finally faded from her cheeks and had been replaced with a bone aching chill. Her father still wasn't home and so she took advantage of the old wood stove to warm up the house. It looked like she would be getting out her winter coat tomorrow. She went and changed into some sweats and an old t-shirt and grabbed a dry sweatshirt even rattier than her regular one, in an attempt to knock off the chill she had gotten from walking home in the rain.

Wrapping herself in the quilt from her bed she took a chicken leg and a roll on a plate and sank onto the mattress that was in the floor to enjoy her solitary dinner. The storm was getting worse. She could feel the wind blowing through all the cracks and crevices in the house. The neighbors old metal shed sounded like a giant was tearing it apart and the old oaks swayed in the wind and with every flash of lightning it looked as if they would topple over onto the house. She was standing in the kitchen rinsing of her plate when the door banged open, bouncing off the wall. Her father stood framed in the opening. He staggered in when he caught sight of her, confirming her theory that he was drunk.

"You little Bitch! You stole from me!" Arrie dropped the plate and it crashed into the sink and broke next to a frying pan.

_This is not happening_, she thought.

"You think you can hide it from me bitch? Huh?" He shouted.

"Dad I was just saving it for the power. You know winters coming up and I wanted us to have a little-" The ready-made excuse jumped from her lips.

"LIAR! You just wanna keep me from my stuff!" HH hhHHe shouted, slapping her across the face. She shrank back against the sink, terrified. He looked deranged with his eyes glowing red as neon signs, another indication that he was stoned in addition to being drunk.

"It's my money, dad! I worked hard for it!" Arrianna shouted back at him with more bravado than she felt as her anger started to take over.

"You are just like your whore mother! Sneaking and saving, gonna run off and leave me too.." He was slurring his words now and going cross eyed. He lunged for Arrie's throat and his fingers closed around it cutting off her breathing. Starting to panic, Arrie's hand found the pan handle in the sink behind her. Enough was enough. Without even thinking Arrie took the pan and swung it as hard as she could at Danny and knocked him on the side of the head, sending him sprawling to the floor. He didn't get up. Arrie dropped the pan, stunned at what she had done before she got down and felt for his pulse, worried she had killed him. No, he was still alive. There was a pulse.

She ran. She grabbed her coat, threw everything she owned in a bag, grabbed her 2 favorite worn paperback books and ran. She just hoped that the offer of being able to stay at the manor still stood. She couldn't face what her father would do to her when he woke up.

The storm was a tempest outside. Driving sheets of rain and a little sleet were coming down. Lightning would flash occasionally and light up the sky showing the trees, bare, with no leaves. It was like a nightmare yet she couldn't wake up. Within five minutes she was soaked through. The gate to the entrance of the grounds wasn't locked. She pushed it open with frozen hands and headed for the porch light that glowed orange in the distance. The place was huge, and came complete with a tower on the end and ivy growing across its face. Everything was washed out and haunted looking. But it couldn't be worse than what she was running from. She staggered up the stone steps onto the huge veranda and knocked on the door. A few moments later a light turned on inside and the door opened showing the old butlers face. Arrianna stood there gasping, looking up from her drenched hood, hair plastered to her face.

"Can I help you?" He asked. It was then that he realized it was her. He took in her bedraggled appearance and the spot on her cheek that was already beginning to bruise.

"Good Lord! What happened to you? Come in and get out of the storm." Shaking, Arrie followed him inside and down the hall past the massive stair case, her foot-steps squelching loudly as she went. The hall was dark with heavy wooden doors lining it and all were shut. He led her past them to another door and on into the cavernous kitchen where the smells of dinner still lingered and a rosy cheeked, rounded woman with grey hair was scrubbing a huge pot.

"Ginny, get this girl something warm to drink, she's frozen." He told her as he pulled out a chair at the small table in the kitchen for Arrie to sit in. The woman looked around at Arrianna, took in her appearance and quickly put a kettle on to boil and then motioned for the old man to follow her into the pantry to get some tea. Meanwhile Arrie collapsed at the freshly scrubbed kitchen table still dripping, her legs shaking from exhaustion.

"Have you lost your mind? Don't you remember how he acted the last time someone just showed up on our door step?" Ginny asked him incredulously.

"Ginny, this girl needs our help. She's the one I told you about." Percy told her.

"Oh, I don't know if this is a good idea." Ginny said wringing her hands, doubt evident in her tone.

"Well he's got to get out of his foul mood sometime, and I think this girl can help get him there. He needs someone his own age, someone he can relate to. Not only that but this poor girl has nowhere else to go."

"She's a child! She isn't going to know how to handle this." Ginny tried to argue.

"Not so much I think. She knows what an ugly life is like. That mark on her face, it wasn't there before. Her father did that to her. She's not safe where she was at." Percy responded. Ginny could tell he wasn't going to back down.

"Well alright then. But don't say I didn't warn you when this all blows up in your face. Big softy." She muttered, following him back out of the pantry.

Arrie was looking around the room when they emerged from the pantry. The woman Ginny quickly began seeping the tea and within seconds it was on the table in a mug in front of her.

"What's your name?" the old man asked.

"Arrianna, but you can call my Arrie." She told them taking a sip of her tea.

"Well Arrie, I'm Percy and this is Ginny the cook. Welcome to Thorn Manor." Percy said.

"I want to get a few things straight first. I'm not staying here for free. I'll pay my own way, work, do whatever, but I'm no charity case." Arrianna said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Percy smiled at her and then spoke, "I do believe those were the terms we agreed on in the shop. You can start first thing in the morning. We've got plenty for you to do, especially with the holiday's coming up. Now, do you have anything dry to change into?" he asked. Arrie shook her head.

"I'm pretty sure this storm just soaked everything I own." She replied.

"I've probably got something she can sleep in for the night. She needs a hot shower. I'll take her up and let her use my bathroom and get ready for bed. She looks dead on her feet." Ginny said.

"Come on. A good bath and a rest is what you need. We can put you up for the night and we will figure out what to do with you in the morning." Ginny stood and motioned for her to follow.

Honestly a hot bath sounded nice. Arrie followed the old woman out of the kitchen and up the stairs and then turned left down a hall and opened a door at the far end and walked into a large and spacious bedroom. It had a four post bed, a large dresser and a night stand. Along the wall were two more doors one she opened onto a bathroom. It had a shower and bath tub combo a small sink and vanity and toilet. Ginny left while Arrie undressed and started the shower. The water pressure was incredible and the heat. She had no idea water could get so warm so quickly. She stepped in and had the water beat down on her, helping to warm her frozen limbs. Ginny came back in and told her where she had left her a towel and that she was free to use the shampoo and conditioner in the shower.

After twenty minutes of the most blissful shower she had ever had, Arrie shut off the water and stepped out onto the fluffy pink matt and wrapped herself in the huge white towel. With a knock on the door to announce herself, Ginny walked back in with a second towel for her hair. She gave Arrie a once over, wrapped in the towel and then said, "Little more grown up than I thought. How old are you?"

"Twenty. I'll be twenty-one in April" She said, wrapping her hair in the second towel.

"Oh, only two years younger than Vincent. Hopefully you'll have something in common. He could use a friend." Ginny told her as she handed her an old fashioned long sleeved white night gown. "It's a little dated that, but it's all I've got. I'll throw your clothes in the wash tonight." She told her. Arrie took it gratefully and while Ginny was bent over facing away she slipped it on over her head. It fell down to her ankles and had a deep neckline making it feel conservative and provocative all at the same time. It was much prettier than her ratty sweats and tee's anyway.

Arrie took her hair down out of the towel and pulled her hair brush out of her bag along with her tooth brush and set to work on the long, thick curls. When she had finally got all the snares out she braided it into a long loose plait to the side. Ginny returned handing her a robe which she secured around her waist, grabbed her bag and was led out and down the hall and up the stairs to another room.

"Thank you for showing me such kindness. I don't know how to repay it." She said turning to the old woman before going in to the room.

"Don't worry, we will find a place for you here. Of that I'm sure. Your bed is turned down. Sleep well." With a smile the woman walked off and Arrie stepped into what was to be her room. It was beautiful. It had a huge floor length window that upon closer inspection she found was actually a small door to a balcony, a large ornate fireplace with a roaring fire in it and heavy oak furniture. The walls were a light blue with shells placed here and there on the nightstands and borough. The bed was a queen size complete with a canopy. And above the fireplace in a large gold frame was a beautiful painting of an old fashioned sailing ship. It was a paradise. It was the grandest room she had ever been in.

Arrie padded across the plush carpet in her bare feet. They sank into it, it was so soft. The bed was indeed pulled back. It was a thick comforter of blue and white stripes to go along with the nautical theme of the room. She threw her robe across the bench at the foot of the bed and crawled under the covers. The sheets were so soft and she was so warm. The pillows were perfect. Within seconds she was sleeping soundly, the sound of the rain storm lulling her in the background.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Manners Matter

Arrie was awoken from her peaceful slumber the next morning by a loud bang. She was vaguely aware of her covers being ripped off before a hand latched on to her wrist and pulled her bodily from her bed and began dragging her across the room.

"Let me go!" She shrieked as she tumbled to the floor dragging the sheets with her. Her thoughts were still sleep muddled as she was pulled through her door and down the dark hallway, through another door and up a flight of stairs before whoever had her let her go and she tripped over the long night gown and sheets and landed hard on the carpet. Whoever the figure was, he had brought her to a dark room and she had trouble adjusting her eyesight. She could hear the person breathing heavily as they passed by her, leaning on a cane.

"Who the hell do you think you are ripping me from my bed and dragging me in here!" Arrie shouted to the pacing figure before her. The room was dark, the curtains pulled shut against the rising sun. She could barely see daylight peeking through the cracks. He turned to her but she still couldn't see his face.

"One could ask you the same question! Why are you in my house? Who gave you the right to sleep in my beds and use my rooms!" He shouted in return. Arrie bristled, balling her hands into fists.

"Thank you, but Percy did! He offered me a position here and a room two days ago. I'm starting to have second thoughts about my employment here however, if this is how I am going to be treated. I lived with an ass all my life. I won't do it again." She told him standing up straight. Under the stranger's scrutiny, Arrie became distinctly aware that she was standing in her night dress still without her robe and quickly crossed her arms over her chest with her sheet in an act of defiance as well as to cover herself a little more.

"Did he now? Percy get in here!" Came the man's gruff voice after another moment of watching Arrie. Percy came in to the room and gave a stiff nod to his master.

"Yes sir?"

"Did you tell this woman she could stay here?"

"Yes, sir. Your father said that I could hire and dismiss workers at my discretion and the girl seemed eager for the job so I offered her a position in order to aid Ginny and I around the manor and a room. She was in a bit of a predicament. I assumed there would be no harm in it." Percy said, with a blank look at the man.

"We are not running a charity house here, Percy!" The man seemed to grow more agitated by the second, but not so much as Arrie. At hearing this she stepped in and spoke up angrily.

"Don't talk to him that way! He's been nothing but kind to me and he helped me. And I'm sure he's good to you to even though you don't deserve it. You are an arrogant ass, sir." Her long hair had fallen from its braid to spill across her back and shoulders. He stepped away from her taken aback.

"And let's get something else straight while we are on the subject of unfair accusations. I am NOT a charity case. I fully intend to work to keep my room here and make my pay check. And I'll be grateful for it unlike you. Not everyone is entitled to whatever they want and no one knows that better than I." She said walking straight up to him and poking him hard in the chest with her index finger.

"And if you ever touch me again, or come into my room while I am here, I'll see to it that you regret it till the end of your days," Arrie told him in a dangerously low voice.

With that she turned on her heel and marched from the room slapping him in the face with her long hair as she went. Seconds later they heard her bedroom door slam shut.

Vincent turned to stare at Percy his mouth hanging open. Percy tried very hard to keep a grin from spreading across his face. Vincent turned and sank into his chair with a sigh.

"What have you set loose in my house, Percy?" He finally asked.

"The young lady is here to help Ginny and myself keep the house in repair, Sir," Percy told him.

"Lady my arse! More like a demon." Vincent retorted.

"Well sir, you really shouldn't have barged into her room and drug her from her bed first thing in the morning. It was a bit rude." Percy gave his young master a reproachful look. Vincent glared at him.

"It's my house, damnit!" He tried to argue. Percy just smiled and shook his head before saying.

"Did you need anything else sir? I'm afraid Ginny needs my help to get the morning started. It is after all Thanksgiving. Do try to remember your manners when speaking to Arrianna. "

Vincent motioned for him to leave. Out in the hall Percy nearly ran into Ginny, who was carrying a basket of freshly laundered clothes for Arrie. The old woman's eyes were round as saucers as he shut the door behind him.

"I heard shouting and then I caught sight of the girl storming back into her room and slamming the door. Did she really go off on him?" She said almost breathless.

Percy finally smiled a full on grin. "That she did. I think she is just what he needed. He didn't have it to say when she left." 

"Bless my soul," laughed Ginny. Then she proceeded to make her way back down the tower stairs to Arries room.

Arrianna had already made her bed and put on her robe when a soft knock at the door announced Ginny. She opened the door to let the old woman in.

"Morning dear. Ready to get the day started? I'll be taking you around showing you everything and giving you your list of duties. It's nothing to outrageous just cleaning and what no. I don't have the time or ability to do the whole inside on my own anymore and Percy tries to maintain the grounds. " Arrie nodded.

"I'll meet you in the kitchen when your dressed." Ginny told her. Smiling at the old woman Arrie pulled out her freshly laundered jeans. She glanced at the knee of her pants and the pockets and noticed that the holes in them had been sewn up and the stains removed. Her mouth fell open at the small act of kindness.

"Thank you," She said in a small voice.

Ginny just smiled at her. "I figure after you get a couple of paychecks we will just have to take you shopping. These clothes are on their last leg." She said. Arrie smiled and nodded and quickly began throwing on the jeans and her t-shirt and then her sweatshirt. After that she made her way to the bathroom and washed her face, brushed her teeth and attempted to reign in the mass of frizzy mess that was her hair. Her cheeks were still bright red from her confrontation with what she supposed would be her boss. She still didn't even know the man's name.

When she finally deemed herself suitable she made her way down to the kitchen to meet with Ginny. From there they took a tour of the house. It was quite beautiful, with a gothic style architecture. On the first floor there was a parlor, formal dining room, sitting room and then a large open room with mirrors up and down it that Ginny explained had once been a ball room when the family had thrown parties for their friends. She said that the room wasn't used now, but every couple of months they would go in there and clean all of the glass, mop and polish the gilded mirror frames. It looked like it would be an all day job.

In the sitting room she had been thrilled to find a collection of books on the shelves that were the Thorn family's private collection. She would definitely be coming here often. They had just made their way up the grand stair case when Arrianna plucked up the courage to ask about her employer.

"I thought you said he was young? Why does he walk with a cane?" She asked. Ginny regarded her for a moment before answering.

"The young master, was in an accident almost a year ago. He was lucky not to lose his entire foot." Ginny told her.

"Well he shouldn't be so horrible to others. You would think he would be a little more humble."

Ginny laughed. "He has always been that way. You were right you know. A touch of arrogance. His accident made him a bit bitter though." Arrie pondered that statement as they continued the tour. She was shown the upstairs which was basically nothing but bedrooms and parlors here and there, and the tower started near her room. Come to find out her own room had its own bathroom. Inside it had a huge vanity much larger than Ginny's and a massive claw footed tub with a separate standing shower. She made a mental note to try that tub out as soon as she had a chance. All of the rooms were large and grand with heavy dark furniture and drapes and vaulted ceilings. She made mention of how everything was so dark in the house and how all of the rooms had the curtains closed. It made it feel dark and suffocating.

"Since the accident, Mr. Vincent has preferred the dark. It's easier on his eyes." Ginny had explained.

In the dining room Ginny had shown her an entire table service of pure silver with an ornate T in all of it. All of it was antique and only used for special occasions such as parties and holidays. It was polished regularly every 2 months and after every use. Again another all day task. When they had gotten to the tower where Vincent stayed holed up most of the time Ginny informed her that that would not be one of her responsibilities. After a quick breakfast in the kitchen Arrie was directed outside to find Percy, while Ginny started on Thanksgiving dinner. It wasn't to be a big formal affair, but what was a holiday without turkey and dressing.

Come to find out there was a stable on the grounds that stood empty, and she noticed all of the gardens around the place as well, and how empty they were. She asked Percy about it and he told her that Vincent wasn't much of a garden fan and so the beds stayed empty. She thought it was a shame and that the flowers could have brightened the place up.

That afternoon she helped Ginny prepare dinner in the kitchen. The turkey had been cooking all day and smelled divinely. While she helped string green beans, and shuck corn Ginny informed her that Vincent always took his evening meals in the formal dining room and that she would be serving him. Typical. His arrogance astounded her.

_She would be serving him, because the great git couldn't serve himself. How ridiculous. _Arrie went back and forth from the kitchen to the formal dining room to set the one place at the end of the table. She had decided her first day was quite enjoyable. Ginny and Percy both were very kind and carrying people. She could tell they cared greatly for Vincent, even though their kindness was lost on the great prat. She was carrying in a large platter of mashed potatoes to the dining room and had reached to turn on the light when a voice stopped her.

"No. Do not turn on the light. I use candles at dinner." Arrie turned to see Vincent standing in the doorway from the hall his form shrouded in shadows so that she couldn't see anything indefinitely.

_Of course_, she thought. Ginny had told her today how he hated mirrors and light. That they bothered him. She of course thought it was ridiculous. He couldn't possibly be that hideous. But she left the light off none the less and set the potatoes down to grab a lighter.

"No need" He said, and walking over lit a match and began lighting the 7 candle silver candelabra. In the flash of the flame she was able to see he did indeed wear glasses. She thought she saw the edge of a scar on his left cheek hidden by his hair but before she could get a second look. He had moved away from the light and settled into his chair. He kept his head angled down and away from where she stood so that she couldn't see his left cheek anymore. Catching herself staring, she hurried back through the side door to the kitchen and brought out a plate of carved turkey and dressing and placed it on the table along with the mashed potatoes and green beans and rolls. Vincent was sitting back in his chair blatantly watching her. Unabashed even.

"Anything else?" she asked a little put off. It was unnerving to be stared at like that. Especially when she couldn't see him.

"Manners. This is supposed to be the south." He told her. She bristled but bit her tongue.

"Step to the window and open one of the curtains to let the light in. I want to see what you look like." He instructed her. Arrie did as he requested allowing the setting sun to come in and rest on her. She was uncomfortably aware that her curly hair was slipping out of its braid again and that she had flour down her front.

"God, a red head. No wonder your tempers like the devil. No matter. Not much to look at are you? I think we will get along fine if you hold your tongue. And stop poking people. It's rude. And those clothes simply won't do. You look like you live in the streets". Arrianna could feel a flush of blood cover her face and even go down her neck and up to the roots of her equally red hair at the comment.

"You have got some nerve to talk to me about manners. You are the one who pulled me from my bed this morning," She hissed.

"How dare you judge me. You don't even know me." She continued. "And I don't care what you think of how I look anyway. I'm here to work, not be a piece of eye candy." She yanked the curtain back over the window and stomped over to the door and left the room, the door swinging in her wake. He could serve himself, the arrogant prick.

Vincent threw his napkin on the table. "Really what did, I do this time?" He asked the air. He jumped when Percy answered him.

"Really, sir. You must stop insulting her. She's liable to poison your food if you keep on." And then he left Vincent to his Thanksgiving dinner alone.

Vincent finished eating his dinner sulking. He hadn't done anything wrong_._

_How dare she act that way towards him. Honestly, he was supposed to be her employer not the other way around_.

Ginny came in to gather his dinner plates and looked at him reproachfully.

"What your siding with her too?" He asked angrily.

"Sir, no offence meant to you but you really need to learn to control your temper. You can't just talk to a lady that way." She told him.

He spluttered. This could not be happening.

"Why are you lot taking her side? She's been here less than a day. What's so damn special about her anyway? Like I said, she's not much to look at under all those baggy clothes and that red hair of hers. She's a viper to say the least." He sounded like a spoiled child and he knew it. But it was so unfair. These were his servants, they worried and doted on him not her.

"Well sir, you could get your head out of your own ass and ask her yourself. It wouldn't hurt trying to be friendly to her. She's had it rough." Ginny scolded him. Vincent huffed. This was nerve racking.

"I've had it rough too! Look at me! Just look at me!" He shouted pointing at his own face.

"Some scars go deeper than skin sonny. You best learn that." Ginny told him.

He pushed back from the table and leaned heavily on his cane storming up to his tower. If he was honest with himself he knew he was being a child. And that just made it all the worse.

Meanwhile Arrie was in the kitchen helping Ginny do the dishes. She heard a shout and breaking glass and looked at Ginny with worry in her eyes.

"Not to worry dear. He's just having a tantrum."

"Well he needs to get a grip. Just because someone stands up to him and he doesn't get his way doesn't mean he has rights to act like a child." She complained.

Ginny made a noise of agreement but said nothing more. After the kitchen was cleaned she and Ginny quickly polished the silver and then sat down to have their own dinner at the table in the kitchen. It was the most rich, filling meal she had had in years. Afterwards Arrie cleared away the rest of the mess and made her way to her own room bidding, Ginny and Percy goodnight and wishing them a happy Thanksgiving.

She took another hot shower and then pulled on her night dress again. Truth be told it was the nicest bit of clothing she had. And that was saying something. Perhaps it was indeed time to treat herself to some new clothing. She sat on a little chair in front of her vanity and picked up a large gilded hand mirror to examine her own reflection. The bruise on her cheek from where her father had struck her was going down. She had had worse. In 3 days it would turn yellow and disappear. She brushed out her long red hair and contemplated how much things had changed for her in less than 24 hours. She didn't have to be scared anymore. She briefly wondered what her father had done when he woke and discovered what had happened. She was glad she had left and she knew he wouldn't bother to look for her. She didn't find Vincent scary in the least. He was just an obnoxious child. That she could gladly deal with. She finished with her hair and climbed into bed, turned on her lamp and grabbed her favorite book Jane Eyre.

She read till her eyes closed of their own accord and finally she fell asleep still holding her book and thinking vaguely that she had a lot to be thankful for this year.

Arrianna may have been drifting into an easy sleep but Vincent was still pacing and knocking things about in his tower. She infuriated him. Everything about her from her flaming red hair, to her blazing blue eyes when she was angry to her pale smooth skin and her baggy worn clothes. And if he was honest with himself he knew that what he had said to her in the dining room was a complete lie. If she was nothing to look at then why was he up here raging at the mere thought of her. In less than 24 hours she had turned his solitude in purgatory to a complete hell and he wasn't even sure if he minded or not. He had ripped open his curtains in his tower to watch the full moon rise over the tree tops, and it calmed him just for a second until he realized the pale glow of the moon reminded him of her pale skin. This was maddening. She was just a girl. A stupid, annoying one at that. He had known several in his prior life. Dated them, hung out with them, slept with them. Why was she different? And why was he having so much trouble not even talking to her, but even being in the same room as her.

This was the first night he crept to her room to watch her sleep. Limping as quietly as he could with his cane to her door, he faltered when he saw a glowing light from beneath it. He bent slightly to look through the old fashioned key hole to see she was asleep in her bed . He eased the door open and keeping to the shadows crept up to her bedside. She was out that was for sure. A book was lying open against her chest from where she had been reading. It looked so old and dog eared he was surprised its spine was still intact. A definite sign of it being an old favorite. Jane Eyre. He thought he had seen the title before. Maybe in the sitting room. When first exiled to the house that's all he could do was sit around and read. He thought he might have seen a copy. Her bright rust hair was fanned out across her pillow. He could smell the strawberry cent of her shampoo still fresh. He noticed how long her eye lashes were resting against her cheek and from there he noticed the faint bruise that marred it . Ginny had said some scars went deeper than skin. He wondered what that meant.

He reached over and turned off her lamp and froze when the sound seemed to have woken her. But she just turned over in her sleep facing away from him. He had been right. The pale moonlight was the perfect match of her skin. He limped back over to the door and quietly shut it behind him. She was going to drive him mad. That was sure and certain. He returned to his room and finally was able to relax enough to sleep in his chair. He was a little worried over what the new day would bring when he awoke and if he could even handle it. He had gone up against thugs and quite honestly he didn't think they scared him as much as this girl did. He dreamed of walking through a forest following the pale light of the moon. Always trying and never being able to catch it.

Shortly after midnight Arrianna woke thinking she had heard the door close. She looked around and saw that her lamp had been turned off but nothing else in her room had been disturbed. She thought she heard another door shut somewhere else in the house but after a few seconds of hearing nothing else she drifted off to sleep, assuming that her reading of the mad wife in Jane Eyre was responsible for her unease. She slept the through the rest of the night, dreaming of dark corridors and masked men.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Admittance

Vincent woke to sunlight streaming into his tower and hitting him right in the eyes. He had forgotten to close the curtains back. He cursed and stood stiffly limping to pull them closed. His neck ached from where he had slept on it wrong and he was still in yesterday's clothing. A knock at the door and Ginny came in holding a breakfast platter heaped with eggs, grits, bacon and a pot of coffee. She set the tray down on a nearby table and turned to him.

"You look like you had a nice night. Everything alright?" she asked taking in his rumpled clothes from yesterday and messy hair. He rubbed a hand over his face and eyes feeling the rough skin of the scar.

"Yeah, Yeah, Didn't sleep well." he told her. Ginny smiled slightly, and nodding she backed out of the room saying that she would return for his tray later. He ate breakfast quickly and then headed for the shower. It helped him wake up more than the coffee and it loosened his neck from where the knot had formed.

He spent the whole day shut up in the tower. Ginny came in for a short stint to clean and pick up the mess he had made the night before. He felt bad about that now, knowing he had been being ridiculous. But he would never admit that to a soul. Vincent paced angrily for most of the day around the tower feeling more trapped now than when he first arrived. Now he felt like he couldn't walk out of his own room without running into the girl and having a fight. If she just wasn't so offended by everything he said. At one point he looked out of the window and saw Arrie walking across the yard with Percy as he pointed different things out to her. He turned away and picked up a book, leafed through it and then set it down reaching for another.

The hours drug on. At six he went down to dinner. Arrie served him again, but there was no conversation. The candles had already been lit when he came down. She came in twice with food and didn't reappear for the duration of the meal. He ate in silence. The worst part is he could hear her chatting happily in the kitchen with Percy and Ginny. He got up and left before she could come back in and retrieve the dishes. For a week this pattern went on. She ignored him, he hid in his tower, they only saw one another at dinner when she served him his meals and then 3 out of 5 nights he had managed to insult her accidentally.

Every night he went to see her asleep in her bed. It was driving him mad. He would stand there for ages it felt like. Minutes were slowly turning into an hour, sometimes longer. He noticed when her bruise disappeared, that she was slowly putting on weight, her cheeks rounding in her heart shaped face. She looked healthy and her cheeks carried a rosy glow to them now instead of only burning when she was angry. He was insane he knew, going to watch her like that. It was only a matter of time before she caught him. And then what would he say. There was no excuse that would be good enough for her let alone himself. By the end of the week he had made the decision that he was just going to avoid her at all costs. There was no point in tormenting either one of them.

Arrianna for her part was pleased with the arrangement. It was awkward to say the least, but she only had to deal with him at dinner. And that wasn't a long ordeal.

"He's always sulking up there, acting like he's some great monster. I've got news for him. He's just an ass. Nothing more nothing less." She had told Ginny and Percy at lunch on her fourth day. She had really enjoyed spending time with the older couple helping do all of the chores. She hadn't thought it would be much on her first day, but now she saw that between digging up the winter garden behind the kitchen, polishing silver and the basic every day pick up of cleaning and cooking and what not the list grew quite extensive. She was up every morning and working by 9:30 and done by four, apart from helping Ginny cook.

Arrianna was starting to feel like she had really done well with staying out of Vincent's way by the end of the second week. She hoped her contact would be minimal with him from here on out. That is until Ginny slipped in the kitchen and fell hurting her leg. She told Arrie that she would need her to take over caring for Vincent for the next couple of days until the sprain on her ankle had healed. The following morning after Ginny had fallen Arrie had woken to go to the kitchen and fix Vincent's breakfast under Ginny's supervision. Then balancing the trey she had made her slow progress up to the tower. She knocked on the door, staring around at the architecture waiting to be told to come in. The whole house was covered in the same heavy dark wooden paneling , with dark heavy furniture in most of the house.

"Come in" came his voice. She opened the door and slipped in. The curtains were closed as they had been on her first morning that he had drug her up here. It was dark with a fire burning lowly in the grate. He sat in his chair facing it away from her.

"I've brought your breakfast," She told him stiffly, trying to remember her manners.

"Where is Ginny? Why are you serving me?" He asked in a tone that she quickly recognized as anger.

"She's fallen and hurt her ankle. I'll be up here in place of her until she's healed." Arrie replied with plenty of a tone in her own voice.

He turned his face towards her slightly and pointed to an envelope on the table on the other side of the fire.

"That is your earnings for the last two weeks. Percy or Ginny can take you into town if you wish to put it in a bank or cash it or whatever." Surprised Arrie moved toward the table to pick it up. She looked at him and opened her mouth to thank him when she caught sight of his face. Hidden behind the hair she saw a large scar encompassing most of his left cheek and eye. It looked as if he had been burned. The skin was wrinkled and shiny, folding in on itself. Her eyes followed the rest of his lean frame and she saw where his hands stuck out from his sleeves that the right one had the same burn as his face. She was horrified. What could have happened to this young man to be marked this way. He was speaking to her. She focused back on what he was saying, he sounded angry by now.

"What are you staring at? Get out! Just leave!" he shouted. Arrie jumped when she focused back in.

"I-" She started to say.

"I said you can leave now. I'm not an animal to be gawked at. I'll not have you feeling sorry for me."

"Yes, sir, thank you." She all but ran from the room and nearly tripped on the stairs. Once back in her own room she nearly collapsed onto her bed, shaking. She couldn't believe how extensive his scars were. And she wondered if there were more. Perhaps this was why he walked with the cane. She pulled the envelope to her and slit it open with her fingernail. Inside there was a check to her for $475. She couldn't believe it. It was more money than she made at the flower shop in a month. She smiled, tucked the check into her back jean's pocket and headed down stairs. She had dinner to server after all and she would make an effort to be nice.

But Vincent didn't come down to dinner and when she had tried to take a second tray to his room he had shouted for her to leave him alone, that he wasn't hungry and he had kept the door locked.

She pushed open the door to the kitchen where Ginny was serving up dinner for the three of them.

"He didn't want his dinner. I don't know what's wrong with him." She told Ginny, placing the tray back down on the counter.

"Well alright then. I don't know why he would be acting like that either. He's been fine. How did he act this morning when you saw him?" Ginny asked.

Arrianna sank into the nearest chair.

"Well, he gave me my check. He wanted to know where you were."Arrianna said.

"I didn't know he had been burned" She finally said, a touch of guilt lacing her confession. Ginny looked at her and nodded.

"Yes it was quite extensive. He doesn't like to talk about it." Arrianna could see why he wouldn't. The pain he must have been in. There was definitely more than what met the eye with him, that was for sure.

"I think he's mad I saw his scar, actually." She said after a moment. Ginny stopped what she was doing and stared across the table at her.

"I doubt that. He's come to terms with it." She told the girl. Arrianna shook her head in disagreement.

"He was a little angry when I left. Said he wasn't to be gawked at like an animal."

"Don't worry about it dear. He will get over it soon enough.

"I guess so. Ginny,I was wondering if maybe sometime this weekend I could go into town and cash my check and buy a few things." Ginny smiled at her.

"Of course you can , love. You're not a prisoner here. Weekends aren't a huge to do around here anyway."

Arrie smiled happily, temporarily forgetting about Vincent. She was finally going to be able to buy new clothes. Clothes that hadn't been worn out by someone else already. She may even get shoes, or makeup. Who knew? Still smiling, she made her way to her own room and began filling her bath tub. She was going to have a nice soak in celebration of her first pay check and shopping spree that was meant just for her. She spent almost an hour in the bath being over luxurious, shaving her legs and soaking and just in general enjoying the feeling of being pampered. She got out when the water had finally started going cold and her fingers and toes looked like prunes. She dried off and pulled on the old fashioned night dress. She may need to hit the pj department too, she thought idly. Slipping in between the sheets she felt her happy little bubble down size a bit. She looked back at the check on her nightstand thinking of the man's signature that had signed it.

How awful it must have been to burn alive like that thinking you would die. Perhaps she had been a little harsh on him in her judgement. Someone that scarred couldn't be that horrible could they? She drifted into an uneasy sleep and dreamed of clothing stores burning to the ground and a voice screaming her name that she couldn't discern as Ginny's, Percy's , Her father's and then finally Vincent's.

Meanwhile Vincent sat in his tower wallowing in self-pity and humiliation. He had hoped that Arrianna wouldn't have seen his scars yet. He couldn't get her look of horror out of his mind. She was probably disgusted by him, like everyone else. Thought him to be a monster, and pitied him for it. He didn't know what was worse.

Arrianna awoke Saturday morning with her anticipation for the day being sky high. She couldn't wait to get into the mall. She wasn't normally a girl of fashion or clothing, preferring books above anything else, but there was just something about a girl's first shopping trip that helped expand a small bubble of happiness. That and the idea of having clothes no one else had worn holes into was something much to be excited about. Ginny had informed her the night before that Percy would be heading to the town at ten that morning to hit the grocery store to get some things. She figured Arrie would have a couple of hours to do her shopping and they would meet in the bookstore at noon.

Standing in front of the mall, Arrie took a deep breath. She had cashed her check and was ready to go and bag as many deals as she could find. Her first priority was jeans and a new bra. Browsing the racks she found a couple of pairs jeans and then began her search for a bra. Not growing up with a mother it had been an embarrassing conversation to have with her 6th grade teacher that she may want to invest in one. Finally finding something that didn't look like it was meant to torture her she went to try on her finds. She decided she liked darker wash jeans than light because they had that new look to them more so than lighter blue. She found a couple of plain everyday bras and then for giggles bought a black lacy one that had been marked way down. In tops she had the most fun. There were so many options. She got several plain long sleeved shirts in colors ranging from black, purple and teal as well as a few hooded cardigans to go over them . They would be ok for every day wear while working. Last she hit sweaters so that she would have something warm to wear in winter. She found a beautiful dove grey turtle neck one and plain low cut black one that had a lace topped camisole under it. Last of all she found a green one and it was her favorite. It was scoop necked and came with a funny wide belt that cinched in her waist and flared out slightly down at her hips. It was beautiful and so soft.

She spent all of her allotted time to shop and by the end of it had accumulated some new jeans, shirts and sweaters, a sweater dress in a dark purple, pajamas and a funny pair of fuzzy multicolored socks and a new pea coat and a pair of flat suede grey knee high boots. She went to the checkout stand and waited patiently while the old lady in front of her argued about why her coupon wouldn't work on clearance items. When she finally moved on Arrie stepped forward laden down with all of her items and the cashier gasped when she looked up. Arrie thought she recognized her as the book shop clerk's wife.

"Honey, where have you been? Everyone thought your daddy did something awful to you. They arrested him for questioning and possession. He isn't due out for another month of course, but everyone wondered what had happened when they saw that huge knot on his head!" the blonde woman with the too white smile said all of this very fast with big blue eyes bulging in shock and fake concern. Arrie knew a gossip queen when she saw one.

"Ah well I got a job somewhere else and moved out." Arrianna said trying to give as little detail as possible. If her father was to get out of jail soon she didn't want him to easily find her. The fact that the town had thought he had murdered her and stashed her body was almost funny. A shame it took him actually killing her for them to get worried.

It was a tad awkward to say the least as the woman checked her out. Arrie left the store as quickly as possible with her head down and her hair hanging in her face trying to prevent anyone from stopping her and asking her all sorts of embarrassing questions and pretending to worry about her. That and she didn't want it getting around she was still nearby. A small fear nestled in her chest. The small question of what if he came after her. She checked the main clock at the mall. She had 15 minutes to kill so she hit the cosmetics and then strolled to the books. She found two off the bat that interested her and was just standing in line to buy them and an iced coffee when she saw Percy come through the door of the shop. She waved and then paying for what was left headed over to him toting the many bags she was laden down with.

" I see you did some damage then, missy" he laughed, grinning from ear to ear at her. Arrie smiled shyly and nodded.

"Well come on then child, let's get back to the house. Perhaps you can model all the fancy knew things you've got for Ginny." Arrie agreed and they walked out to the car storing the rest of Arries new things in the trunk alongside the groceries. When they got home Arrie helped unload the car and then grabbing her many bags headed upstairs to sort all of her new things while Ginny sorted the kitchen. She had offered to help her with that but Ginny had shooed her away insisting she get to her knew clothes.

Arrie had just turned the corner to her room not watching where she was going when she smacked straight into something or rather someone very solid and landed on the floor along with all of her new clothing and books.

"Oh I am so sorry!" she apologized and looked up to see Vincent attempting to right himself with his cane. She lunged to help him and he pushed her off.

"I don't need your assistance! I'm not an invalid. Watch where you are going!" He told her. Arrie bristled.

"I'm trying to apologize. There's no need for all of that. If you would put a little light on in here I might could see. It's not like I did it on purpose," She snapped back.

"I see you went shopping. Finally getting out of all of those rags are you?" He retorted quickly. Arries face turned a darker red than it ever had before.

"You know I was honestly starting to feel sorry for you. But now I regret it. It seems like you're a great git with or without a few scars" She hissed while turning to pick up her bags. She heard Vincent make a noise like an angry cat but didn't turn around to bother hearing his response. She stalked the rest of the way to her room and pushed through the door and slammed it behind her with her back resting against it. She was breathing heavily from her anger and the effort it took to carry all of her new stuff. Why? Why did he have to be such an outright ass all the time? She had been having a perfectly normal, even wonderful day and now he had all but ruined it. She could feel tears forming and tried to force them back. Who was he to make her cry? Taking a deep breath she walked to her bed and began spreading all of her new clothes out on top of it.

Out in the hall Vincent was breathing like a winded animal. He thought she was out of the house and then there she was, all but in his arms. The smell of her, the feel of her. He could have kicked himself. He had gone went and done it again. He had insulted her. And for what? Making an honest mistake and not looking where she had been going. He was just as guilty of it. Her words nearly cut him as deep as some of his scars ran. She had taken him by surprise is all. And now she would never see him as nothing more than a freak. A monster. Something evil to be despised. He leaned against the wall next to her door for a moment almost in agony. He thought he could here sniffling from behind it. But then a moment later the sound of her bags being emptied came to him and he moved on down the hall to the stairs leading to his tower.

After a while a knock came on Arries door and Ginny came in. Seeing the red puffy eyes of the young girl she automatically became concerned.

"What is it dear? Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine. It's nothing." Arrie tried to tell her but she would have none of it till Arried told the old woman about the meeting in the hall.

"Just ignore him dear. It's what I do when he's in one of his moods. He just wants someone to feel sorry for him is all. Let's see some of those pretty new clothes now." Arrianna smiled and ran for the bathroom where she tried on each of her new shirts with a new pair of jeans and paraded around her room for Ginny to see the outfits.

She saved her green sweater for last, being most pleased with it. Ginny seemed to like it as well.

"It makes that hair of yours look like it's on fire. Beautiful, my dear." Arrianna smiled shyly.

"Ginny. The lady at the cosmetics counter gave me some make up samples. I was wondering if" She hesitated before continuing. "If you would show me how to put it on. I've never worn it before." A faint blush crept up her cheeks at admitting it. Ginny smiled and walked over to her little vanity and pulled the chair out towards the bench and patted it to show Arrie should sit. Ginny showed her how to put on eye shadow and liner and mascara. Ginny applied it all faintly, telling her that her beautiful creamy skin didn't need improvement. While she worked, Ginny asked about Arries mother.

"Why didn't she ever teach you to do make up? Every mother teaches their daughter about make up." Ginny said.

"My mother left when I was 9 with another man. She promised me she would come back for me, but a couple of days later a police officer came and told me and my father that she had died in a car crash."

"I'm so sorry dear." And Ginny looked it.

"I don't really remember her all that much honestly. I can sometimes remember the smell of her perfume or how she brushed my hair, but not much about her."

When she finished, she help up the hand mirror for Arrie to see.

"There you are, pretty as a princess in a castle." She told her.

Arrie smiled happily at the compliment.

"Thank you Ginny. I really appreciate the girl time. I've never had a girl's day before." Ginny smiled at her as she left the room. Bless her heart, she thought. The little lamb had had it rough.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Childish behavior

Vincent spent the rest of the afternoon in the tower. He refused to leave for he was pretty sure Arrie would still be furious with him and he was starting to worry about what she might do to him. At six a knock on the door announced dinner, and a balloon of dread filled his stomach. He turned to face the door as it opened but it wasn't Arrie who walked in. It was Ginny. That somehow made it worse. One look at her face told him she knew of his behavior from earlier. He quickly turned his back on the woman and pretended not to see her.

"Oh stop sniveling at me like that. You have every reason to be ashamed of how you acted and I don't feel a bit sorry for you." She berated him. Vincent sighed, knowing she was right.

"And what's more you need to make it up to her. Your parents raised you better than that." She continued on.

"Where is she ? Why isn't she serving dinner tonight? And I thought you were hurt." he asked.

" She is in her room reading. I gave her the night off. She deserves it." With a disapproving look Ginny swept back out of the room and left him alone with his thoughts.

By 10:30 he was ready to go insane from his boredom. Perhaps there was a book he hadn't read yet in the sitting room. Grabbing his cane he made his way down to see what he could find. A light was still on in the kitchen and he assumed it was Ginny or Percy preparing for tomorrow. He browsed for a few moments looking through some of the titles when a noise behind him startled him and he turned quickly. She was standing in the doorway in pajamas covered in cupcakes, a glass of water in one hand and a book in the other.

"Sorry, I thought you were Ginny. I'll go back to my room now" she told him turning away.

"Wait," he said before he could stop himself. She turned back to look at him.

" I want to apologize for my behavior earlier today. It was uncalled for and I'm sorry."

Arrie raised and eye brow at him and he blushed. Funny, he didn't know he could still do that.

"Alright. Apology accepted then." She told him. He sighed. "I can't do this anymore. Can we just start over? Give me a chance to prove that I'm not an ass all the time." A look of disbelief crossed her face.

"And how do you propose to do that?" she asked. Vincent limped toward her, leaning on his cane. He extended his hand, "Hello, I'm Vincent. This is my house and my land and I'm the great git who lives here." Despite her misgivings Arrie reached out and shook his hand. The hand he extended had been the scarred one. She could feel the calloused skin beneath her fingertips and quickly drew it away before realizing to late that that might have been rude. He, however didn't seem to notice. She distantly wondered if that's how the scar on his face felt. She still couldn't see it properly in the half light.

"Well, goodnight then." She said after an awkward moment.

"Goodnight." Arrianna sped down the dark hallway, water in hand. She thought she heard him sigh heavily before she made her way up the stairs.

The next couple of days Arrianna stayed busy around the house. She and Percy had gone through the attic and found all of the Christmas decorations. It had been her job to stand out on the patio and spray all of the old garlands down before they were to go up in the house. Finally returning inside with all of it, cheeks pink from the cold, her and Percy and Ginny trailed all of the prickly greenery up and down the stair railings, and over all of the main doorway entrances. After lunch Percy had come in dragging an eight foot live tree that they would set up in the sitting room. Arrianna strung lights and hung ornaments, chatting merrily. Vincent didn't come down from his room at all that day. His brooding silence emanated from his tower, and everyone decided to just leave him be. He would come down if he felt like it. Truth be told, the apology last night had been awkward for him and he was hoping to avoid everyone at the moment. Vincent didn't like having to apologize.

After two days of the nonsense Ginny became fed up with him altogether and sent Arrianna to deliver his food. His sulking was getting on her nerves. Arrianna knocked before pushing open the door with her hip and then peeked inside the room to find him sitting in his chair, facing the fire and reading. He didn't acknowledge her and following his lead, Arrie placed his tray on a small table and left without a word. If he didn't want to talk that was fine. Ginny's arthritis had started acting up and she hadn't been in to clean Vincent's room in a couple of days and on the fourth day Arrie tripped over a pile of dirty laundry in the dark. Finally fed up at the mess she walked straight past Vincent's chair that he never left and before his protest fully left his lips, she yanked open the curtains.

"This is ridiculous, Vincent. You can't sit in the dark." She said. Turning around she stepped back in alarm. He had moved from his chair so quickly and quietly that she hadn't heard him even move. She was immediately aware of how close he stood to her. And finally in the full light of day, she saw his scar in all of its atrocity. Her eyes grew round as dinner plates as they swept across his face. The right half of his face was smooth, unmarred, and handsome even. She could see the flecks of gold in his green eyes. But the left side of his face. It encompassed his entire left eye and went up to his hair line and back towards his ear and down his jaw and disappeared in his shirts neckline. The skin was and angry mixture of red and pink, folded in on itself in places and wrinkled, and smooth in others. A gasp escaped Arrianna's lips before she could stop it.

"Get out." Arrianna didn't need telling twice. She bolted for the door. She looked back as she reached to close it and saw he had turned to watch her as he yanked the curtains closed.

"GO!" He shouted. Arrianna slammed the door with a bang and ran down the steps.

_Stupid, Stupid, Stupid_, she thought as she slowed to a walk back to the kitchen. She was more horrified with herself, than with the scar, because of her reaction to it. She didn't speak to Ginny or Percy once back in the kitchen and before long she ended back up in her room.

To think someone had to live with that for the rest of their life. She avoided the tower for the rest of the day. She could feel his anger like an angry wave, pulse through the house. The sound of breaking glass helped aid her confirmation that he was furious. She would have been too had it been her. She knew what it was like to have people stare at you. She had had enough bruises in her life time to know how humiliating it was to have people look at you like you were different. At least her bruises had gone away with time. This never would though.

Up in his tower Vincent stormed back and forth using his cane to destroy random knickknacks and his dishes. He was more furious with himself than with her. He couldn't banish the look of horror on her face from his mind. And he had probably made her feel worse with getting in her face the way he had. Now she officially knew. He was a monster. He stopped accepting meals. He stayed locked in his tower for three full days and full nights. Ginny began to worry that he was going to do something drastic. They knew at least he was still fully alive because occasionally an agonized shout would break the silence. Arrianna would look at Ginny and she would just shake her head sadly.

"He has to come out sometime," Arrianna said at the end of the third day of his self -inflicted imprisonment.

"Well we can't make him, dear. Only he can decide if he's ready to face this." Ginny replied.

"Well he's acting like a child."

"He will come around. He did this when he first saw that scar. He just needs a couple of days."

The sound of shattering glass was more than Arrianna could stand though and she threw down the dish towel she had been holding and started out the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To put a stop to this. He's acting like a selfish little child."

Ginny's warnings fell on deaf ears as Arrianna stormed out of the kitchen. She had heard enough. She ran all the way to the tower and reaching the door she started banging on it.

Inside, Vincent stopped his agonized pacing to look at the door in agitation and wonder.

"Alright, that's enough! You've sulked long enough. I'm tired of hearing you trash your room. Come out now!"

Vincent shook his head in disbelief. The girl was insane.

"Go away, Arrianna. I don't want to be bothered." He shouted back through the door.

"Well I'm tired of being bothered myself. What is your problem anyway?"

"Just go away. I don't want to talk about it."

"Is this about your scar? Are you mad that I saw it?" There was no answer.

Arrianna pounded her fists against the door.

"I don't give a damn about your scar, Vincent. It doesn't bother me in the least, and it shouldn't bother you!" she shouted. Still no answer.

"Fine. But I'm not leaving from in front of this door until you come out and stopped pouting like a child." And with a final pound on the door Arrie slid down the wall to sit cross legged in front of it.

For a while all was quiet. She couldn't even hear if he was pacing or not.

"Vincent?" She tried after an hour. He didn't answer. Angered all over again, she stood and started pounding on the door again with her balled up fist.

When the door opened unexpectedly she fell straight through and landed in a heap on the floor of his bedroom.

"Are you satisfied? I'm perfectly alright, you can stop that inane banging." Vincent said. Arrianna stood up and brushed her pants off agitatedly.

"It took you long enough. Why is it so damn cold in here?" She asked. Looking around she saw that the fire had gone out completely and the window was open.

'I fancied a breath of fresh air." He said, his tone snarky.

Arrianna crossed the room and pulled the window closed then turned and flicked on a lamp. His room was absolute bedlam. The sheets were ripped from the bed, the curtains were hanging crookedly from the walls, the mirror was shattered and his chair was turned over. Not to mention dirty clothes and dish fragments littered the floor. Vincent himself at least seemed to have showered and worn clean clothes.

"Alright, you've had your fun. Out of here so we can clean this mess." Arrianna said bossily.

"come again? Who are you to tell me what to do? It's my room." He retorted.

"Yes, and you pay me to clean it. Now out." Vincent huffed and with one last look of contempt at the girl he limped from the room. Arrianna gathered all of the dirty clothes and linens into a basket and carried them down after him and took them to the laundry room. Passing the kitchen she saw Vincent sitting at the table sulking, a bowl of soup in front of him. She breezed through the room and grabbed the trash can and broom, and thoroughly ignoring him went back to his room to start sweeping up all of the glass and trash. After two hours of thorough cleaning, she rebuilt the fire and deemed the room suitable again.

Down in the kitchen Vincent was being berated by Ginny.

"Seriously? You could have made yourself sick, sitting up there in the cold like that, not eating. What were you thinking?" she snapped.

"I was upset." He retorted.

"And that gives you rights to act like an idiot?" Percy spoke up, as he came through the back kitchen door, a dozen red roses in hand.

"What you to? I just needed some space. What 's the big deal?" Vincent asked, exasperated.

"I'll tell you what the 'big deal' is. I've had to deal with these two for over three days now worrying about your idiotic self. Between listening to them and you, I've quite had enough, I have." Percy snapped.

"Well I'm sorry you guys were worried about me." He said meekly.

"Damn right you are." Ginny said smacking him on the back of the head with a dish towel.

"What was that for?" Ignoring him Ginny continued on.

"And you can apologize to Arrie too when she comes down from cleaning your pig pen room."

"Fine." Vincent thought this was starting to get out of hand. Soon Arrie came back down and had a bag full of trash from his room that tickled loudly when she threw it out the back door. Ginny and Percy watched him piercingly all through dinner, no doubt waiting on him to apologize to Arrie. Well they were fresh out of luck. He intended to apologize to her without an audience. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. Arrie was ignoring him as spectacularly as Ginny and Percy were. After dinner the older couple headed out of the kitchen to go to their separate rooms for the evening and Arrie got up from the kitchen table and made for the sitting room. Vincent noticed she wore new clothes for the first time. Dark jeans with a green sweater and gray boots. Even her hair seemed a little more tame. He followed her to the sitting room, a clunking shadow in her wake with his cane. She curled up on one end of the couch with a book and continued to ignore him. She hadn't spoken to him all through dinner.

"What was the point of nearly bringing down my door if you are just going to ignore me now that I am out of my room?" he asked.

Arrie eyed him coolly before replying.

"I think you still have something to say to me." Vincent sighed, exasperated.

"Fine. I formally apologize for being the world largest ass. Are you happy?" Arrie raised an eye brow at him.

"Look that's as good as your going to get." He told her irritably.

"Fine. Apology accepted. But I'm still mad at you." She told him.

"I assumed as much." He sat down on the couch and grabbed the remote.

"You wanna watcha movie or something?" he asked.

"I'm reading."

"Fine, I'll pick." He pulled out The Longest yard and put it in.

"While we are apologizing I would like to apologize for my behavior as well. I was out of line."

Arrie said not looking at him. From the corner of her eye she saw him look towards her.

"No, you were right. I was being an ass," she wasn't going to argue with him there.

They sat in silence for several minutes watching the progression of the movie he had put in. It was one she had never seen. And she said as much. Vincent laughed and said it was an old favorite of his. They passed the evening comfortably enough just chatting on the couch, laughing at the antics of the prisoners. He even made a comment about the Christmas decorations being nice. Sitting there not even five feet from him it was hard not to throw sideways glances at him every now and again. She tried very hard not to get caught doing it. But on occasion he would see her and she would flush red. Maybe his crazy was rubbing off on her.

When the movie went off, Vincent turned out all of the lights and walked with Arrie to her door. The hall ways were dark and she accidently bumped into him more than once, apologizing each time.

They reached her room and she turned to say goodnight to him. She caught sight of his face for the second time in the half light from her lamp lit room. The scar covered most of his left cheek, and crept up into his hairline from what she could see of it and encompassed his eye. The skin was puffy, pink and shiny. It wasn't as startling the second time around but she figured it was something you just got used to.

"Well thanks for the evening I suppose. It was nice. You're not too bad when you don't let your temper screw it up." She told him with a smile. He grinned himself looking at her.

"You as well. If you didn't have a temper that's brighter than that bushy head of hair of yours" He told her. She laughed.

"Goodnight, Vincent. I'll see you in the morning" and she shut the door. He leaned against it. Really? He had made fun of her hair, but this time she had laughed at him. She had actually laughed at him instead of exploding on him. He limped to his tower with more of a spring in his step than he had had even before his attack. Arrie leaned against the backside of her door. It had actually been a pleasant evening. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all. Smiling to herself, she got into her bed and snuggled under her blankets. Maybe he was different under all the scars. Perhaps there was a little more there than met the eye after all. There had at least been progress. They had spent an evening together where neither had seriously offended the other. Definitely a plus. Hopefully he would start coming around more and not be as awkward in the future.


	7. chapter 7

Chapter 7

Storms

Christmas was coming. You could just feel it. The chill in the air, the frost on the ground, the fire crackling merrily in the grate, all were a sign of the coming festivities. Arrianna was excited for the first time in nearly ten years for a holiday. She busily went through the house cleaning everything in sight, while Percy worked outside and Ginny cooked. It was true yes, that she had basically taken over the entire cleaning of the house in the last month, but it didn't bother her in the least. The older couple had been more than wonderful in the accommodation of the young girl, and she was happy to do whatever they asked. Including picking up after Vincent. He was still a daily challenge for her. Two days before Christmas was upon them, Arrie was informed that Mr. & Mrs. Thorn would be arriving, so everything had to be in tip top shape. That included Vincent. He on the other hand could care less about the goings on. Or so he acted.

Vincent didn't care if his parents came for Christmas or not. They damn sure hadn't bothered to call and check up on him as far as he knew. His last Christmas he had spent in the hospital. He had been told his parents had stopped by for thirty minutes on their way to a party but he had been asleep. They couldn't even be bothered to stick around to see him, so this year he didn't care if they saw him or not. At least that's what he told himself. He spent his time skulking about the tower watching Arrie clean. They didn't talk much, but they did become acclimated to one another's presence after a while. They slipped into a routine where she would bring him his meals, pick up his laundry and dust and clean his bathroom, while he would sit in his chair by the fire, shrouded in shadow to watch her or read. She had noticed his lack of interest in his parent's arrival and asked him about it.

"Do you not want your parents to come see you?" she had asked the day before Christmas eve. He gave a non-committal shrug.  
>"What's that supposed to mean?"<p>

"I don't care one way or the other if they come or not. They didn't bother while I was in the hospital or rehab. Why would they now?" he replied.

"But it's Christmas," Arrie protested.

"It doesn't matter to them." Arrie could hear the silent confession. _I don't matter to them_.

"That's awful. Why didn't they?" she asked.

"Because in their eyes, I'm a failure." He told her.

"That can't be true. You can't help that you were in an accident," Arrie reasoned with him.

"An accident? You think that's how I got this way?" Arrie looked at him with an eye brow raised in inquiry.

"I'm just going off of what I've been told."

"Well trust me. My parents think I deserve this as punishment for my crimes."

"Punishment? What could you have done to deserve something like that." Vincent glared at her and Arrie realized she had crossed a line.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to know more about you." She said, guilt lacing her tone.

A flicker of the dark emotions that constantly roiled inside of him flashed across his face and Arrie took a step back.

"I think it's time you finished with your task in here and moved on." He told her a cold edge in his voice. Sighing heavily Arrie took her broom and dustpan and left his room. Why he insisted on hiding everything from her she didn't know. She wondered what could have happened to him, and what would cause him or his parents to think he deserved his scars as punishment, or that his family didn't want him. She could occasionally see some of the pain, not the kind you would feel from a physical injury. It would flash across his face like it had just now. A deep ocean of it, roiling in a tumultuous storm. She recognized the look, because she herself had felt some of that pain. In different dosages but still definitely from the same bottle. Arrianna had at least escaped hers though. Vincent was tormented daily, fighting a daily struggle of loneliness.

In the kitchen, Arrie washed her hands and moved to help Ginny with preparing all of the food for the big dinner the next night. Flour was everywhere as the old lady rolled out dumplings to go in a large metal pot on the stove.

"What is it dear? Was Vincent being an ass again?" She asked. Arrie shook her head and dropped another dumpling in the pot, distracted.

"Ginny, How did Vincent get that scar?" She finally asked.

"He was burned." Ginny said.

"Yes, I can see that. But how did it happen?"

Ginny sighed.

"It's not for me to say. You should ask him." She told the young girl.

"Well I mentioned it and he just closed up. He acts like it makes him undeserving or something. Like it was his own fault." Arrie said.

"He blames himself."

"He thinks his parents blame him for it to." Arrie said.

"They do."

Arrianna's hands stopped separating the dough that covered them.

"That's awful. He couldn't have been that deserving of what happened to him." She said vehemently.

"He wasn't. He made mistakes, and they cost him. He was young and foolish. But it should have never been such a high price." Ginny said softly.

Arrie agreed completely. That night she went to bed, her own emotions in a whirlwind of confusion. She felt pity for the young man that was only fifty yards away sitting alone in the darkness.

Vincent limped to the curtains and pulled them back, revealing a clear, star strewn sky behind the bare trees. His nerves were keeping him awake tonight. He threw another log onto his fire and limped back to his bed. Sitting gingerly, he placed his cane beside the bed and then with some maneuvering got his mangled leg propped up. He leaned back into his pillows, his mind racing, wishing desperately for sleep and knowing that it wouldn't come. He felt angry, resentful and scared that his parents were coming tomorrow. They had avoided him for the last year. His mother hadn't even seen him that he knew of. Not like this. Permanently disfigured. He knew they blamed him. He knew himself that it was all his own fault. He was a disappointment and a failure in all aspects. He would be fit for nothing in his father's eyes. And now he would have to see it all first hand.

Knowing that you're a failure, and knowing that everyone else knew as well was the hardest thing for him. Especially after all of the excuses he had spun for himself over the years. He thought of Arrianna and of her curiosity towards him. He couldn't stand the thought of her knowing him like that as well. It was hard enough having the people who were supposed to love him leaving him for his faults. Strangers hating him as well for his misdeeds was too much for him to think about it. He was scared of the loneliness that accompanied the abandonment. If Arrianna left, he would be totally alone. She might not know him, and he might not know her, but she was another person in the house. Someone else who lived and breathed and existed in this empty world.

Chrismas Eve dawned bright and clear. Arrianna woke with a nervous bubble in her stomach. She showered and dressed in her new sweater dress, leggings and boots, then attempted to reign in her wild curls. Finally giving up on her hair altogether, she gave one last disdainful glance in the mirror. At least she didn't have a pimple or something else. She wanted to look nice for the Thorns. After all, she didn't want to lose her job. Arrianna left her room and headed to meet Ginny in the kitchen. The old woman was already slaving over the stove getting ready for Christmas dinner. Vincent's breakfast sat on a trey ready for her to take to his room. She picked it up and balancing it carefully headed for his tower. Once there she knocked before going in. It was only a formality to announce herself by now. Vincent had learned that she was coming in regardless of whether he wanted her to or not. Entering the room she looked around noticing the curtains were open and that Vincent was still asleep in the bed.

"Alright, up already," she said, a note of irritation creeping into her voice. When he didn't move she placed the tray on his desk and moved over to the bed. He was sleeping heavily on his side, the scarred visage of his left cheek hidden in the pillow. She took a moment to watch him, unabashed_. He really was_ _quite handsome on this side_, she thought to herself. Then blushing at her own thoughts she reached out and lightly tapped him on the shoulder. He still didn't move. She shook him. Still nothing.

"Damn it, Vincent, wake up!" She said loudly shaking him by the shoulder roughly. The young man jerked awake and faster than she could give him credit for had grabbed her wrist and looked around wildly.

"About time," she said to him. Vincent looked up into her face and blushed brightly when he realized he had her wrist in a vice grip.

"Sorry," he said releasing her.

"It's fine. I've brought your breakfast. You need to get up. Your parents should be arriving shortly." She said. Vincent pulled on his robe and then gripping his cane firmly, limped to his breakfast. He sat and watched while she made his bed and buttered himself a piece of toast.

"You're looking festive." He commented taking in her dress.

"It's Christmas. Did you expect me to wear dishrags?" she asked as she replaced his pillows on the bed.

He chose to ignore her and continued on with his breakfast. When he was done and she had finished cleaning up she took his tray and headed back out the door. He watched her leave, noticing how her long slender legs moved smoothly across the room. Then shaking himself, he limped off to the shower. Once he had finished, he dressed in a warm green sweater and dress pants. The dress shoes were the worst part. His left ankle was swollen and stiff. Once dressed, he combed out his hair and looked into the mirror_. As if any of this will help_, he thought, glancing at his clothing and back up at his face.

There was no hiding the disfigurement completely. He went down to the sitting room to wait. Arrie came in every now and then to fidget with the decorations. When she rearranged the nativity scene for the tenth time he snapped at her.

"What is your problem? Why are you so nervous?" he asked her.

"I'm not." She denied.

"Don't lie. Your very bad at it." He told her.

"Fine. I am nervous."

"I knew that already. I'm asking why." Arrie's ran her hands through her hair again.

"Because. I don't want them to fire me." She finally admitted after switching her weight back and forth from foot to foot.

"They wouldn't fire you. Just stay in the kitchen or something if you're worried about it."

Arrie took a deep breath and nodded and started to pace. Noon came and went. Clouds started piling up in the north. Still the Thorns didn't arrive. Percy walked through the front door at one point carrying a bunch of red and white roses. Vincent got up and Arrie raced to the door only to see him and go back to the sitting room where Vincent flopped back down on the couch in agitation. At four thirty a shrill ring rent the quiet air and Vincent pulled a cell phone from his pocket. Sighing he flipped it open and answered.

"Hey dad, where are you guys," Arrie could hear talking on the other end of the phone but couldn't make out the words. She watched Vincent's face as anger flickered over it.

"Ok. Alright. I'll tell them. You to dad." And then he hung up the phone.

"What did they say?" Arrie asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"There not coming." Even though she knew he would never admit it, Arrie saw disappointment cross Vincent's face.

"Oh. Well. I'm sorry," she said awkwardly.

"It doesn't matter. I figured they'd bail on me." He said in disgust. After another awkward moment, Arrie walked up to him and stuck her hand out.

"Come on. Let's not have Ginny's hard work go to waste." She told him.

Vincent eyed her hand before grabbing it and allowing her to help haul him to his feet. Once he was standing she dropped his hand and headed toward the dining room. His hand tingled at the feeling of human contact. Apart from doctors no one had touched him in the last year. The table was set for three. Arrie ran and grabbed another plate from the kitchen.

"Vincent's parents aren't coming. Why don't we all just eat in the dining room together?" She told them.

"I swear, standing their own son up on Christmas," Ginny muttered, getting to her feet. Percy followed and soon the four sat at the table comfortably. They took turns passing around the different platters of dumplings, green beans, ham, rolls and carrots. A beautiful coconut pie sat at one end of the table for desert. The roses Percy had brought in earlier sat in a crystal vase at the center of the table in amongst Christmas greenery. Candles had been lit and the room glowed with a festive cheer, aided by the fire in the fireplace.

"It looks great, Ginny. Smells awesome," Arrie told the old lady. Percy acknowledged the sentiment as well as he shoveled a spoonful of dumplings into his mouth. Vincent loaded his own plate with food, but he didn't eat much, Arrie noticed. He just picked at the different portions, nibbling half- heartedly.

"Arrianna, I bring news from town, by the way." Percy said after he finished his dumplings.

Arrie looked up from her plate, curiosity on her face.

"Your father has been released. No one knows where he had gone." Arrie felt the smile on her face slip as fear settled into her stomach. She noticed Vincent looked her way curiously.

"That's comforting," She said after a moment, sarcasm weak in the statement.

Vincent opened his mouth to ask what the big deal was, but he saw Ginny shake her head slightly and he let it drop. Seeing that the conversation had made Arrie uncomfortable she turned her attention to Vincent.

"Did your parents say why they weren't able to make it?" she asked

"Oh something about an important business meeting had run over and now the weather would be preventing them from making it." Vincent said, disgust evident on his face.

Arrie forgot her own issues for the moment and looked at Vincent with pity. She knew that if her own mother was still alive, that she would have come to see her on Christmas. She hoped anyway.

Thinking of her mother made her feel guilty. Arrie hadn't been to the grave in a while. She was sure that it didn't have any flowers on it for Christmas. Eyeing the roses on the table, she decided she would take one first thing in the morning before she did anything else. The graveyard was only a mile away and Arrie needed to go see her mom.

After dinner, she did her usual routine of helping clean up the mess. Once finished she started out for her room. Her foot was on the bottom step when she heard the TV turn on in the sitting room. Silently she crossed the room and peered in. Vincent sat on one corner of the couch by himself, idly flipping through the channels. He looked so lonely. Arrianna watched him for a moment before deciding to join him.

"Mind if I sit in here with you?" she asked. She didn't want to be rude after all.

"Go ahead. No one else to worry about. Not like I have a family or anything," he said scathingly. Arrie ignored his comment and sat on the couch on the opposite end. Vincent didn't say anything else to her. He just continued to flip channels. Bored, Arrie looked through the books on the shelf nearest her and looked for an interesting title. Deciding on one she pulled it down and started to read. Vincent finally settled on the Grinch_. Typical_. She thought.

"Thanks for staying," he said after a few moments of silence. She looked up at him. He wasn't looking in her direction at all.

"You're welcome." She said after a moment.

They passed the rest of the evening together in silence. By ten she glanced over and saw that he had gone to sleep. Sighing she got up and moved closer. He looked peaceful for a change, she thought. His face wasn't clouded with all of the dark emotions he usually had and his scowl had been replaced with a peaceful look. Instead of waking him and moving him to his room, Arrianna searched for a blanket and finding one, spread it out over his sleeping form. He looked comfortable enough, she figured. Then switching off all the lights except the Christmas tree she headed to her room. Once there she rebuilt a small fire in her fireplace and dressed for bed. Climbing between the sheets, she thought about how lonely Vincent was, and how awful his parents must be to not care about him. Her father wasn't the shining example to use as the perfect figure, but she knew her mother had loved her. Sleep took her.

The next morning Arrie awoke to a bright light. Looking out at her clock it read that it was only six thirty. Moving to the window she saw the reason for the bright light. Snow covered the ground and reflected the sunlight. It was beautiful. A white Christmas. Her first one ever. Smiling to herself she dressed quickly remembering her promise and slipped down to the dining room. Vincent was still sound asleep on the couch. The fire had burned itself out in the night and the curtains were still closed, leaving the room in darkness. She tip towed to the dining room and grabbed a single red rose and then slipped out the front door.

The snow crunched beneath her feet and the cold air bit at her cheeks. Arrianna felt incredible. No foot prints yet marred the smooth surface and it stretched as far as the eye could see. It didn't take her long to reach the graveyard. She slipped between the two gates and made for her mom's grave.

"Merry Christmas, mom." She whispered laying the rose on the grave marker. It's bright red color stood out vividly against the snow. She stood there for a few moments, watching the sun rise over the tree tops. She allowed a single tear to fall from her eye and slide down her cheek. Wrapped up in her own thoughts she didn't hear the crunch of the snow as someone else entered the graveyard.

"You know you are awfully hard to track down," a voice she knew well hissed in her ear. Arrianna turned around quickly losing her balance in the slippery snow to look up into her father's face. He grabbed her arm before she could fall.

"Come on. You useless little runaway." He said as he drug her across the soft powdery snow.

"No. Let go of me! I'm done dad. I'm not staying with you anymore." She shouted as he continued to drag her.

"Useless. Just like your piece of shit mother." He growled. Arrianna jerked her arm out of his grasp and ran past him. He tackled her to the ground. Kicking, Arrie screamed. Danny slipped in the snow, and getting up she kicked him while he was still down before he could grab her again. Then she ran. She didn't look back as he staggered to his feet after her. Once she was out of the gate she continued running and he followed her in pursuit. On the path back to the house she tripped on a hidden root and felt her ankle give under her weight. She went sprawling to the ground and looked back in terror. Danny was getting closer. She balled up some of the fluffy white snow and threw it at him as she tried to get back on her feet. The snow ball caught him in the mouth and he stopped a moment spitting a glob of red goo onto the ground. It's color stood out drastically in the snow.

"Little bitch!" he shouted at her. Up ahead Arrie saw an iced over puddle. She ran past it and, like she had hoped, Danny slipped in his pursuit and went crashing to the ground where he didn't get up.

She ran all the way back to the Manor.

Vincent had been having a dream. He and Arrianna had been walking through the forest, but she kept running ahead of him. He couldn't keep up with her with his cane. He would shout for her to come back but she would only laugh and taunt him, telling him that he was failing her.

He awoke with a jerk on the couch. He thought he heard a door close. Throwing the blanket off he limped to a window to see Arrianna's back retreating down the wooded drive, a rose clutched In her hand. Panic gripped him. She was leaving.

He rubbed his hand over his face, feeling the scars rough under his fingertips. Limping back to the sitting room, he pulled out his phone and dialed his father's number. When there was no answer he hung up and dialed his mothers. Still no answer. In a rage he threw his phone. It crashed to the floor, shattered. He looked back out the window. Arrianna had disappeared. The swirling darkness of his anger finally consumed him and the full reality of his position crashed into him like a wave in the ocean. He was alone. Unloved. No one cared for him and no one would.

With a, agonized shout he swung his cane into the glass cabinets that housed vases and other glass collectibles. The front shattered. Again and again he swung at all of the collectibles, as if destroying them would somehow help eradicate the pain inside of him. Ginny came running down the stairs and tried to enter the room, but he barred it from her. Locking the door and keeping the old woman out he continued to destroy the room.

Next he grabbed the porcelain nativity set and piece by piece threw it with all of his might and shattered it against the wall. A tear slipped down his cheek. He threw another piece of china. _Of course no one would want to be with him. Who would? Who could? He was a hideous monster. Not even his own family wanted him_.

He had been fooling himself into thinking that Arrianna was there more for him. She was only there for the money. Even she had somewhere else and someone else to be with Christmas morning.

Gasping Arrianna ran back down the driveway to the house, her lungs screaming from the cold air. The sound of breaking glass reached her from outside and an agonized scream rent the air. She stopped. The front door opened and Percy ran out to her.

"I don't know what is wrong with him. Ginny and I woke up and he was doing this. He's locked himself in the sitting room." He said in panic. Arrianna limped back up the steps and into the hall. Ginny was sitting on the stair case sobbing.

"Do something! Please! " she begged.

"Can I get in there?" she asked. Another shattering of an ornament met their ears.

"Yes. I have a key. But –" Arrianna understood. The old woman handed the key to her and she limped to the door. Sliding the key into the lock she turned the handle and gently pushed open the door.

Vincent stood in front of her, his back to her, shoulders heaving. Arrianna felt her heart break a little inside as she witnessed his torment first hand. She stepped into the room and softly closed the door and stepped across the broken glass to him. He didn't turn to face her. She slowly reached out her hand and placed it lightly on his shoulder. It shook with bitter sobs.

"Vincent." She barely whispered his name. He turned to look at her then. Tear tracks flowed down his face.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"Gone. Everyone's left me." He said shakily.

"No they haven't. We are still here." She said.

"No. You left. My parents they left. They left me!" He shouted, jerking away from her.

"I came back." She tried to sooth him.

"No! You left! WHY?" another tear escaped his eye.

"I went to see my mother." Arrianna confessed to him. He looked at her bitterly.

"Why did you come back?"

"Because, where else would I go?" she answered him with a question.

"Why didn't you stay with your mother? I'm sure she's better company than me anyway."

"She's dead, Vincent." He stopped his angry pacing to look at her.

"Why are you doing this?" Arrianna asked him.

"Because. I am alone. I have no one. No one will ever see me more than anything but a monster." He said agonized.

"That's not true." She told him vehemently. He turned his back on her. Finally tired from his rant he sank onto the couch hiding his face in his hands. Arrianna went to him and kneeled down to be eye level with him.

"Vincent, look at me." She commanded. When he didn't comply she reached up and gently pulled his hand away from the scarred side of his face. She looked into his eyes and saw the storm still swirling and raging inside of him. She trailed her thumb across the scar and wiped away another tear as it fell.

"I came back. I'm not leaving you. I promise. And neither is Ginny or Percy. " she told him adamantly. She smiled at him. 

"Come one. Let's get out of this mess." She extended her hand to him and pulled him up from the couch. They made their way unsteadily to the door and she opened it. Ginny and Percy stood just outside waiting anxiously.

"Breakfast I think. In his room." She told Ginny. The old woman nodded and scurried off. Percy stood by awkwardly as Arrianna helped him climb the stairs. She kept one hand in his the whole way.

AN- I hope you guys like the direction I am taking this. Please review and let me know what you think. It keeps me going. =)


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Friends

Arrianna kept her hand in Vincent's the entire way up the stairs. Neither spoke, but she could tell he was still very bothered by the whole ordeal. By the time she got him back into the tower and into his chair he was shaking visibly from the strain of the climb and his nerves, his breathing shallow. Neither noticed her disheveled appearance or her limp.

"Do you want me to stay up here with you?" she asked him awkwardly.

He shook his head quickly and turned away from her. It was easy to see that he was ashamed by his weakened state mentally and physically. Arrie stood for a second longer watching him closely from behind, ringing her hands awkwardly. It made her heart ache for some unknown reason. Pity settled into the bottom of her chest like a heavy weight. Then sighing quietly she turned and left, shutting the door behind her. She headed back downstairs to the living room where Ginny and Percy were already beginning to clean up the mess.

"How is he?" Ginny asked immediately upon her entering. Arrianna stepped across the room, her boots crunching from all of the broken glass underfoot.

"I think he will be alright. I think his pride is hurt a bit, but I think he will get over it." She replied taking the broom from the old woman. Ginny seemed to relax a little upon hearing this and she relinquished her hold on the broom handle.

"Come on, Ginny, let's go start some breakfast up. It's Christmas after all." Percy said from the doorway.

"Yeah, go on. I've got this." Arrie said gestering to the mess. Ginny quickly followed Percy out the door. Soon Arrie could hear the sounds of pans being set on the stove from the kitchen.

Sighing again she began sweeping up the general mess in front of the cabinets. Her eyes caught sight of a piece of paper stuck inside a shattered frame poking out from under the couch and she bent to retrieve it. Inside was a photograph of a very handsome and whole Vincent. Her breath caught in her throat. She had never come across one of him before in the house. He was undeniably attractive with dark shaggy hair that seemed to quaff in all the right places around his chiseled and angular face. His green eyes stood out against the back ground of the bluish green ocean. Next to him stood a thin, bleached, beach blonde, tanned, toned, beauty who could have been a swimwear model. The woman in the photograph instantly made her self-esteem plummet like a stone off a cliff. She didn't even know why this woman made her feel inferior. Leaving the living room, photograph clutched in her fist she headed for the kitchen.

"Ginny! Ginny!" She burst through the swinging kitchen door in an agitated state that she couldn't explain to herself.

"Who is this?" she demanded once the old woman looked up from cracking eggs open into a pan.

"Oh, that's Afton Sterling. She and Vincent used to date. Why?" she asked, returning to stirring the eggs.

Arrie could feel the heat crawling up her face.

"Oh. Uh no reason. Just curious. I never saw her before." Arrie said. Ginny glanced back up again and saw her facial expression.

"They don't date anymore. After Vincent's family cut off his money, she left him. She was only ever after his money. She never actually cared for Vincent. I think that's what made him so much worse off." Ginny said.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh when she left, his gambling and drinking got much worse. I don't think he could handle the abandonment. I think he knew all along she was no good but he kept trying to overlook it like it would go away. And then it all crashed on him." 

Arrie put the picture into her back pocket and then reached under the sink to grab a fresh trash bag.

"Yeah, I could see why that would be." She said before heading back into the living room. Pondering what Ginny said, Arrie wondered if this was somehow responsible for his acting out this morning. When the bag was filled to bursting with the shattered remains of Vincent's wrath on the living room, Arrie lugged it to the kitchen where ham and eggs were sizzling in pans and the smell of biscuits baking permeated the air.

As she tossed the bag onto the back patio, Percy came in through the opposite door.

"Arrie, I think it might be best if you took Vincent's breakfast up to him." He told her.

Arrie nodded mutely.

"What happened to you? You're covered in mud and bleeding." He said after a moment, taking in her disheveled appearance. Arrie raised an eyebrow trying to think and then it came crashing back to her. Vincent had totally wiped it out of her mind. The graveyard. Her father.

"My.. my… I had a run in with Dad at the graveyard. I took some flowers to my Mom's grave. He showed up." She said.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt badly?" Ginny asked in concern. Arrie looked down and saw that, yes, indeed her left leg was bleeding through her jeans.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll shower and change when I've taken Vincent his breakfast."

"Are you sure?" Percy asked.

"Oh, yeah. I've had much worse than this." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. Crossing to the sink she quickly rinsed her hands and then loaded a tray with food and quickly slipped out of the kitchen before they could continue questioning her.

Within just a few moments she was gently knocking on Vincent's door and then slipping into his room. He had a cd player in the corner blasting heavy rock and the bathroom door was cracked with steam billowing out. Setting down the food, Arrie stealthy made her way over to the bathroom and peaked inside.

Vincent stood in front of the sink both arms locked onto the porcelain hands gripped tight knuckled white. He had a towel wrapped around his waist and his hair hung dripping down in his face. The mirror was fogged up so he couldn't see her reflection in it. She took a moment to stare at the scars and burns across his back and left shoulder and then trailed down to his narrow hips and waist. He was thinner now than in his photograph, but he still had the toned arms from where he relied on them to help with his movement. He was still very much attractive. Arrie felt the heat rising in her face at her own thoughts and then quickly and quietly turned to slip out of the room before he found her staring. She could only imagine his reaction if he had caught her.

_It's not like I was staring to be rude or anything, I was just making sure he was ok._ she thought to herself. In fact she had been mesmerized by his form. Still flushed at what her own thoughts might mean she slipped into her own room and locked the door behind her.

Vincent left the bathroom, cane in hand. He dressed as quickly as he could, ignoring his reflection in the mirror. His eyes fell on the tray of food, still warm. He glanced to the door and saw that it was closed and then checked him phone. No missed calls. He sighed in aggravation. He felt ashamed of his behavior earlier.

Weak.

Arrianna probably thought he was a lunatic by now. Sighing in exasperation he concluded that he should probably make an effort to apologize to her before the day was out. He was always apologizing to her, but unlike when she first arrived here he now felt guilty about his behavior towards her. And he didn't understand why. Actually forget that. He knew why. He just didn't want to admit it to himself. She had been kind to him, and not just out of pity for his scars. However, Vincent's first instinct for this was to shut down and push away. He refused to allow himself to be dragged down into this kind of trap again and then left more broken than he already was. He had enough people leave him in his life time and it hurt. He was tired of hurting, tired of caring.

_You fool. You have already let yourself fall. That is what this is you know. You wouldn't have reacted this way if it wasn't the case. You do care._

The thoughts burst to the front of his mind unbidden and he couldn't push them back down. He angrily pushed away the food. This had to stop. He had to stop it. He couldn't afford this type of pain. He knew what he had to do. He had to send her away. For his own sanity. Gripping his cane tightly in his hand, he left his tower in route to her room.

Arrie got out of the shower and dried off and then wrapped herself in her robe. Then after towel drying her hair she went to sit on her bed and examine her leg. Her knee had a shallow scrape on it and her ankle was already swollen and bruised. Sighing exasperatedly she began putting ointment on the scrape, wincing at the tenderness of it. Her thoughts drifted to her father while she did it. She was so tired of worrying about him. Where he was, what he was doing, and whether or not he was going to come after her and kill her.

She hoped he hadn't figured out where she was staying. She hoped maybe he would just freeze to death where he had been laying in the snow and ice in the graveyard. After finishing with her knee Arrie reached to pick up her dirty clothes off the floor. The picture of Vincent was poking out of the jeans pocket.

She pulled it out and then dumping the clothes in a hamper she stretched out across the bed and looked at it, her eyes trailing over his toned muscles. He was more muscular in the picture than he was now. Like he worked out on a consistent basis. The right side of his face was still the same though. Still angular and handsome. His hair was longer now. Shaggy to the point of framing his face down to his chin.

Something seemed to bubble up from the pit of her stomach. Warm and inviting but nervous too. Her eyes traced his face again and rested on his piercing green eyes. He was beautiful. A knock interrupted her thoughts and she stuffed the photo under the pillow before limping to the door. Opening it she found Vincent on the other side. His facial expression looked very uncomfortable.

"Can I come in for a moment?" He asked. Arrie nodded wordlessly her face flushed. She chastised herself mentally for her thoughts a few moments before. It's not like she could do anything about them anyway. He was her employer. She limped back to the bed and sat down trying to be as ladylike as possible as she propped her ankle up again.

"What happened to you?" Vincent asked eyeing her leg.

"When I went to the grave yard I tripped." Arrie left out the cause was that her father had attacked her. She didn't want Vincent thinking that her father could be a liability to her working here.

"Oh, ok. Well listen, I came here to talk. I came to apologize for my behavior this morning." Arrie watched his face, her stomach twisting with nervous butterflies. He was changing for the better. She knew no one was forcing him to do this. He came to her of his own will. The butterflies seemed to expand happily in her stomach.

"Oh, it's fine. I don't mind. I'm sort of getting used to your temper tantrums." She told him, smiling at him. His face hardened.

"Also, I came to tell you that I don't think this arrangement is going to work any longer with you being here." And just like that the butterflies were replaced by roiling masses of snakes in the pit of her stomach. It took her a second to process what he was saying.

"What? Why?" Arrie felt her eyes starting to sting.

"It's not fair to you." He told her, looking away.

"Damn right it's not fair. What did I do? You can't be serious?"

"It's not you or your performance-" he started but Arrie cut him off.

"Let me guess, It's not you it's me? Is that the line you are really going to use?" She asked angrily swiping at the tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She felt like an iron cage was closing around her heart and with it pounding the way it was it hurt, and she didn't understand why. He turned away from her.

"It's better this way. Trust me." He said. His voice was hard.

"Please don't," she whispered. He didn't respond.

"Vincent, please! I'll do anything. Just don't make me leave." Panic was gripping her now.

"I don't have anywhere else to go," she pleaded, her voice cracking. She couldn't stop the tears now as they flowed down her cheeks.

"Please don't make me leave. I don't want to." Vincent turned to face her again.

"You want to stay?" he asked her, confusion masking his voice. She nodded quickly.

"Why?"

"I like it here. It's so, so, I don't know, safe." She said, fumbling for an excuse other than she thought she was falling for him.

"Safe? Here, with me?" his confusion was more pronounced.

"Yes. It's the safest I have felt in years." She told him, wiping away more tears. She took a step closer to him. What would she do if he made her leave. She was shocked to find that the thought absolutely terrified her. She didn't want to be away from him. And it just confused her. She didn't know why.

"Please let me stay." She begged again.

Vincent stared at her a moment longer. Her blue eyes pleaded with him, piercing him to his core.

_She actually wants to stay. Here with me._

_Don't be a fool._

_I make her feel safe._

_You are only going to get hurt. _

_I don't care_. The two voices in his head argued.

"Fine. You can stay." He said. The next second he was nearly bowled over as she threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she murmured into his shoulder. Relief flooded her stomach. He stood there rigidly for a moment in shock. Finally he cleared his throat.

"OH, sorry." She said releasing him, an embarrassing flush crawling up her face.

"Okay, well.. um … I'm going to um go get breakfast now. I'll see you later." He said and then limped to the door. Arrianna collapsed onto her bed again after he left, trying to slow her heart rate. The relief she felt made her feel giddy. Pulling the picture out from under her pillow she folded it in half effectively cutting off the swimwear model and then ripped it across the crease. She was left with just a picture of Vincent. Throwing the woman's half in the garbage she placed Vincent back under her pillow and then quickly dressed.

They rest of the day went by smoothly. Arrie went to get Vincent's tray after she had had her own breakfast in the kitchen with Percy and Ginny. Then plucking a rose from the vase where she had gotten her mother's she headed to Vincent's room. Not bothering to knock she walked straight in and found him sitting in his chair a pair of head phones on and a type of journal in his hand, writing. She walked over the window and opened the curtains to let some light in and to catch his attention without him thinking she was being nosy. He looked up and saw and quickly shut the notebook and removed the headphones.

"Here," Arrie said and handed the rose to him before he could ask why she had come to his room.

He took it and looked up at her, his one eye brow raised in question. She flushed in embarrassment.

"I didn't think to get you anything for Christmas, I'm sorry. This was the only thing I could think of. It's meant to be a thank you." She said in a rush. He reached out and took the rose from her.

"A rose huh?" He asked after a moment.

"Yeah. Cheesy now that you think about it." She said, forcing a laugh.

"I don't think so. Thought that counts, remember?" he said.

"Speaking of which. I didn't think to get you anything either." He said.

"You let me stay. That is gift enough." She told him. Vincent got to his feet and limped to a cabinet and pulled out a vase. Arrie took it from him and went to the bathroom and filled it with water from the tap. Then returned and placed the rose in the water.

"Are you ever going to tell me why you wanted to stay?" he asked her.

"No, probably not." She told him, looking down at her shoes, blushing again.

"You know you are different than most people. You are one of the few people who have ever wanted to be a friend or whatever that didn't want my money." He said, not looking at her.

"You think of me as a friend?" Arrie asked him, raising her own eyebrows in return. He made a non- committal noise. Arrie smiled to herself. Vincent noticed.

"Oh, I'm sure you're after my money too. You're just a more descent type of person." He said, grinning.

"Oh yes, that's totally it. I'm such a gold digger. Can't believe it took you this long to figure it out." She told him scathingly. He shook his head at her sarcasm.

"I will figure out why you wanted to stay so badly one day." He told her as he sank back into his chair.

"Oh I hope you do. But for right now, it's my secret." Arrie told him. Then stealing herself for a moment she walked up behind him and bent down and whispered in his ear. The one closest to his scar.

"For the record, I'm glad you think I'm your friend. Your mine as well. One of the first."

Vincent froze in his chair surprised at her closeness, his heart racing. She was barely centimeters from the burnt side of his face. When he turned to look at her she was gone. He saw the door close. He smiled to himself. Friends.

She may not have understood what it meant to him, but for him it was better than any present he could have ever been given. Vincent reached out and plucked the rose from its vase and brought the bloom to his face to smell. For the first time in a long time, he was happy.

**Ok. Here you guys go. I am so sorry it's taken me so long. ducks flying objects thrown from reviewers I hope you guys like it. I struggled with this chapter. I'm trying to work out some new ideas that I have had. Trying to keep it interesting. I hope you all like the direction I am taking this. Please let me know what you think, and review. It helps with my confidence and could possibly result it quicker updates. grins evilly **

**-Muse of the Pen**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Frozen Fury

The last day of December dawned bright, clear and freezing in the town of Thorn. Arrie rose from her bed and pulled on her thick, sweater and jeans shivering in the drafty house. One down side to this place was it didn't have a very efficient heating system and in a place this big it could still be cold. She quickly stacked kindling in the grate and put on a large heavy log. Then lighting the old newspapers under them she waited for the wood to catch fire. Once satisfied with her work she went to the bathroom and washed her face and brushed her teeth before heading towards Vincent's room.

The tower was much draftier than the rest of the house but Vincent refused to stay in any of the other rooms. He was stubborn like that. Arrie slipped into his room and began the same process of lighting a fire in his grate. Once it was burning brightly she slipped up to the side of his bed and watched him as he slept. It was a habit she had taken to doing lately alongside taking out the stolen photograph and staring at it for hours. His blankets were wound around him tightly as if he had been thrashing in his sleep. Sighing quietly she reached over him and began straightening them out.

Arrianna took the time to watch him, unabashed. She could stare freely without offending him or enraging him. He slept with no shirt and his skin was crawling with gooseflesh from the cold air. Stretching she pulled the comforter up to his shoulders and neck without waking him. He looked so peaceful when he slept. The unmarred side of his face was smooth with no blemishes whatsoever. She jumped when he turned over in his sleep trying to decide if she should run or risk being caught staring. But he didn't wake. Letting out a breath she didn't know she had been holding Arrie leaned over him and gently brushed the hair out of his face. Her fingers trailed over his scar.

She was being stupid and she knew it. If he caught her, that would be it. Everything would be over. He would probably think she was a creep. Tearing her eyes away from Vincent's sleeping form Arrie left and headed down to the kitchen to get his breakfast. She couldn't explain where her infatuation with him was coming from.

Over the last week they had gotten along better than they had been previously. They joked some and talked. Mostly it was superficial though. Arrie had been hoping to draw out some of the wounds he was harboring deep inside but he wouldn't share them with her and it frustrated her. She couldn't explain to herself why she cared so much all of a sudden. She knew she pitied him and she knew she had allowed herself to get attached, but she didn't know why. Every time she was around him it was like she was carrying a balloon inside of herself. Which of course was foolish. No sort of relationship could happen and she knew it. It would jeopardize everything.

In the kitchen she found Ginny at the stove and Percy at the table with the paper.

"Morning," she greeted. Both returned the sentiment. Arrie reached into the cabinet and began taking down a plate, mug and silverware for Vincent's breakfast tray. Percy set the paper down and looked over at her.

"Arrie, We need to talk." He said. Arrie placed the fork down on the tray and looked at the old man.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Your father has declared you missing." Arrie felt panic rise in her chest as her heart started a drum roll.

"What? That's ridiculous. I'm nearly twenty. I'm not missing. I left. He knows I left and that I wasn't kidnapped. And I'm not a runaway either. I'm an adult." She said angrily.

"Yes, we know that. What we would like to know is, when you ran into him at the graveyard, did he know where you have been staying?"

"No. I didn't tell him. He would have been here by now to drag me back if he had known." Arrie said irritably.

"Then that's good news. What does he want with you anyway?" Ginny asked from the stove.

"More than likely he is wanting money. That and he can't stand the fact that I would have defied him and left. That and I did attack him with a frying pan." Arrie said after a moment of thought.

"Why would he be wanting your money?" Ginny asked.

"Drugs," Arrie and Percy said simultaneously. Ginny shook her head. 

"That's terrible." She stated.

"It's the way things are. I've always been the source of drug and booze money. If I didn't have it…" Arrie didn't finish her sentence. Silence filled the kitchen after her last sentence.

"I don't want you going into town for a while, until we have figured out what to do about this problem." Percy told her after a moment.

"Not a problem" Arrie agreed whole-heartedly. The eggs, toast and grits were finished and Arrie loaded them onto Vincent's plate, then stacked everything neatly on the tray and headed for the door.

"I'll be back. Taking Vincent his breakfast," she said to no one in particular. On her way back up to the tower she thought about Danny's search for her. It was utterly ridiculous. He needed to just leave her alone. Arrie only hoped that he wouldn't find her here. Pushing open Vincent's door she found him sitting in his chair with his robe on. The fire was crackling merrily now in the grate.

"Morning," he mumbled, not looking at her at first. Still preoccupied she didn't respond. She set down the tray at his desk. Catching sight of her face he noticed her frown.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"It's nothing, just something stupid," she said listlessly.

"Nothing my arse. What's wrong?" He demanded.

"My Dad is looking for me." She said, sighing irritably.

"What?" Vincent sounded shocked.

"Yeah, he's declared me missing." She said.

"Are you going to have to leave?" Vincent asked. Arrie thought she heard a noticeable squeak at the end of his sentence.

"No. I left and I am not going back." She said adamantly.

"What happened?"

Arrie stopped making his bed her shoulders sagging.

"I don't want to talk about it right now," she told him. She could already hear a protest on his lips.

"Please." He asked again, quietly. She turned to look at him smiling.

"Tell you what. We will talk about it after dinner tonight. I've got a lot to get done." She told him.

"Fine, but I'm holding you to it." He told her.

"That's fine. I'll see you at lunch." Heading down stairs she found Ginny, who gave her a list of chores to get done. Then the old woman left for the sitting room. Arrie watched her worriedly as she sank down into the armchair and closed her eyes. Deciding she would check on her every half hour or so Arrie started on her extensive list for the day.

Vincent watched Arrie leave and after the door shut, he shook his head and rubbed his scar in irritation. The girl was purposely trying to kill him. He thought back to the feeling of her fingers trailing across his face. He wondered mildly why she had done it and if there was more than just shear curiosity behind the touch. Not that it mattered. It served to do nothing but make things more uncomfortable in the long run. He had been worried he was going to choke on his own breath and alert her to the fact that he was awake. Because even though he knew that it wouldn't mean anything to her, the touch had left him feeling jittery in a good way.

At noon Vincent left the tower and headed for the kitchen. He was bored out of his mind and had spent enough time wondering about Arrie and her gentle touch to last a life time. He found Ginny at the stove in the kitchen and a peak into the dining room showed him Arrie sitting in the floor digging through one of the cabinets sorting bowls and pans and dishes.

"What are you doing?" he asked her after a moment. Her head had been halfway out of the cabinet and she jumped, banging it on door.

"Sonavabitch," he heard her growl. She turned around and glared at him. Vincent grinned and waved.

"Don't you know how to knock? How long have you been there?" she asked in agitation, rubbing her temple.

"Not long enough to be wonder what you're doing," he replied cheekily.

"I'm sorting all of these dishes. Ginny hasn't been able to find her cake pan." Arrie said climbing to her feet.

"What are you doing down here?" she asked in return.

"I was bored."

Arrie raised her eyebrows at him.

"You've been sitting up there all week and you are just now deciding you are bored?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yep, sounds about right. So I figured what better form of entertainment than to come and bother you."

"You need to get out more." Was all she said and then passed him into the kitchen. The clunking of his cane told her he followed.

"Lunch is ready," Ginny said as they entered. She raised an eyebrow at Vincent but said nothing else. A pot of soup sat on the stove and sandwiches on a tray next to it.

"I found your cake pan, Ginny. It was in the back of the china cabinet." Arrie said handing over the tubed pan.

"Wonderful. I expect Percy is the one who put it back there. Fool." She said.

"Where is he?" Arrie asked.

"Oh he went to town to get a few things before the storm hits." Ginny said easing down into a chair at the little table, a sandwich in hand.

"A storm?"

"Yes, that's why I am aching so badly. It's a cold front coming in from up north, and a warm front is headed in from the southwest. I expect us to be here with no escape for a few days at least. After lunch if you could stack up the firewood. We will definitely be needing it." Ginny said.

Arrie nodded taking a bite of her own sandwich. Vincent sat awkwardly at one corner of the scrubbed table.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" she asked him. Vincent's cheek s bloomed a bright red.

"I don't know where the plates are," He murmured looking down at the table. Arrie snorted.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" She got up and reaching into cabinet pulled out another dish and bowl, then filled it would soup and placed the sandwich in front of him. He thanked her.

"For the record, when your done with them, they go in the sink. Or if you get really inspired you could put them in the dishwasher." Arrie told him. He glared at her, but didn't say anything. The rest of the lunch passed in silence. Both Ginny and Arrie had books to read. Vincent to advantage of Arrie's preoccupation to watch her. Whatever she was reading, it must have been good, because her sandwich was still halfway to her mouth and it had been suspended in her hand for a good minute and half.

"Good book?" he asked after another thirty seconds had passed and still no change. Arrie looked up distractedly to find him watching her and she flushed a bright red.

"Yeah, it is." She said after a second of embarrassed silence. They sat like that for a moment just staring at one another and then she brightened once more and turned back to her book. Eventually she finished her sandwich and got to her feet leaving the book on the table face down, spine stretched to mark her place. Vincent glanced at the title and saw it was one from the family's own personal collection. The rattle of the dish being placed in the sink sounded and he looked back up. Arrie took away Ginny's dishes as well, but looked at his pointedly. Getting the hint, Vincent placed his own dishes in the sink. Ginny watched silently, but Vincent noticed the tips of her mouth go up in a smile.

_That's right, laugh it up_, he thought irritably.

"Okay, I'm headed outside to stack up the wood. If you need anything Ginny, just stick your head out the back and yell. I should be right in." Arrie said. Putting on a jacket Arrie then slipped out the back door.

Vincent watched her leave.

"Well subtlety has never been your strong suite." Ginny said, interrupting his train of thought.

Vincent jumped and turned find the old woman staring at him.

"I don't know what you are talking about." He denied after a seconds hesitation.

"Oh I seriously doubt that. You're a bright boy. So how long have you felt this way about her?" Ginny asked him.

"Like what?" Vincent was pretty sure he could guess the old woman's game but he wasn't about to play.

"Denial won't help you."

Vincent stood from the table and headed toward the door, trying to ignore her.

"I won't say anything to her, but you better tell her yourself, and soon." Vincent kept going, trying to ignore her.

"I think she feels the same way." That stopped him and he turned to look at the old woman with rounded eyes.

"You're a meddlesome, old woman." He said irritably.

"Oh I have no idea what you're talking about." She said smugly and then turned her back on him and headed for the sink.

Vincent wandered into the living room and glanced over at the cabinets that he had destroyed the front of a week ago. He had tried to stay away from them since then but now he walked over to assess the damage. A lot of the knickknacks had been destroyed. Upon closer inspection he noticed the photo of himself and Afton had disappeared. Not that it bothered him too much to be rid of the thing. But it piqued his curiosity. After a moment he sank onto the couch and flicked on the t.v. From his vantage point he could see Arrie walking back and forth across the covered veranda style porch armloads of fire wood in her hands. He sat like that for the next hour and a half watching her progress.

Outside Arrie huffed in the quickly chilling air. It had been warm outside this morning but now it seemed that the cold front Ginny had mentioned was indeed moving in. Clouds were piling up fast and the wind wasn't helping. Every now and again she would glance through the windows of the sitting room and see Vincent sitting grumpily on the couch, flicking through channels. She tried not to look too often. She really needed to get a grip about this whole, well whatever it was. She didn't want to call it a crush.

Maybe an unhealthy infatuation. Arrie quickly figured that didn't sound much better. But whatever it was, it was dangerous. There was no way it would ever, ever, ever be anything more than what it was. It couldn't be. And for some reason this saddened her to no end. Trying not to think about it anymore than necessary, Arrie turned her attention to a more worrisome problem. Her father. She had absolutely no idea what she was going to do about that, apart from desperately hoping that he never found her here. These two conflicting factors spun through her mind like they were on a merry-go-round. Her father, Vincent, Father, Vincent. Eventually she kicked the stone steps in irritation and was rewarded with a painfully stubbed toe.

After two hours she finally had a pile of wood that was chest high and at least five feet long. Satisfied with her work she glanced at the drive to see Percy pulling back up to the garage. She went around to the trunk once he had parked and opened it and began to help him unload the car.

"Good, I'm glad you got that firewood stacked. I believe we are in for a storm." He said as he handed her two gallons worth of milk.

"Yeah, Ginny said it would be bad." Arrie replied. She headed inside with her load and after depositing the milk on the counter she went back out. Bending to retrieve a carton of hot chocolate mix, she noticed a bag of cat food in the floor along with a littler pan, and a bag of litter and bowls.

"Percy, what's with the cat food?" She asked turning to find the man standing bent at the driver's door. He straightened and then walked up to her brightly.

"Ah yes, well, you see. I just couldn't leave her." He said and fishing in his overcoat pocket he pulled out a solid black baby kitten that couldn't have been more the seven weeks old.

"Ohmygosh!" Arrie squealed taking the tiny creature in her hands. It mewed quietly and immediately started trying to climb Arries jacket.

"I figured she could use a good home with you. I found her out by the florist, playing in the parking lot."

"I love cats!" Arrie exclaimed before hugging the old man happily. She then took the bag of cat food and cat supplies into the house and headed for her room.

"What in god's name is on your shoulder?" Arrie turned on the steps to look down and see Vincent standing at the foot of the stairs staring at the kitten.

"Vincent, meet Luna," She said happily.

"You're kidding right? Remember what I said about we don't take in strays." He huffed.

"Yes, and I am still here. And the cat is staying." Arrie told him, turning to continue up the stairs.

She heard Vincent growl at the foot of the stairs.

"Fine, but it has to have a bath if it's staying in the house." He called after her retreating back.

"Deal." She called back over her shoulder and then disappeared into her room.

As promised, the winter storm blew in around them. Around four o'clock that afternoon the sky darkened drastically and the wind picked up with a hint of thunder in the air. Snow mixed with sleet began to fall heavily and within an hour there was an inch and a half already covering the ground. Ginny and Percy had made sure to set out candles and flashlights just in case the power went out. Vincent had returned to his tower after Arrie had gone to her room taking that infernal kitten with her. He made a mental note to berate Percy for that later. In the tower the wind seemed to whistle more loudly than anywhere else in the house and then with a resounding crack of lightening he decided it was time to go back down to the ground floor, where his chances of being struck were less high. Ginny had a roast sizzling in the oven and the vegetable soup from lunch was still warm in the crockpot. Cornbread baked in the oven.

Waiting for Arrie to appear and start laying the table in the dining room, Vincent stood by the window in and watched the storm's frozen fury. Standing there he heard a quiet mewing and looked down to find the kitten crawling across his shoe and attempting to climb his pant leg.

"Get off, you little idiot," He grumbled as he tried to shake it off. The kitten just clung tighter.

"Oh come on, Vincent. It's not like she's hurting you." Arrie said coming over to scoop up the kitten and look out the window.

"She was going to ruin my pants if she kept that up," Arrie shot him a glare. He glared back.

"Come on, dinner's done." She told him. He watched her put the kitten back up on her shoulder where the little fuzzy thing proceeded to lose its balance and fall. Trying to stop itself it dug its claws into her sweater and pulled the neckline down a little further. It didn't reveal anything but Vincent felt heat flood his face at where his mind immediately jumped. He turned and walked away while Arrie grumbled and hissed under her breath trying to keep the kittens claws out of her skin.

"And that's why I don't like cats." He told her, sinking into his chair at the table. He looked over at her in time to see her roll her eyes and she walked past.

"Well you are just going to have to learn to get along with her. I'm already attached." She said.

"That didn't take long. Damn thing hasn't been here three hours."

Arrie ignored him and went into the kitchen to retrieve his dinner. Once his food had been laid out she headed back for the kitchen. Vincent watched her go in confusion.

"What are you going to just leave me in here by myself?" He asked before he could stop himself. Arrie stopped with her hand on the door.

"You want me to stay?" she asked, turning around to stare at him incredulously. Vincent shrugged.

"Well either you do or you don't." she said after a moment.

"Do what you like. You don't have to." Oh how he hoped she would. He didn't look at her when he felt the chair next to his creak as she pulled it out and sat down.

"Alright fine." She conceded. They filled their plates in silence. Another crack of thunder sounded, loud enough to rattle the windows.

Vincent took his time slicing his roast and shot inconspicuous glances at her as they sat there in silence.

"So. You've been here, what, two months now?" he asked after a moment breaking the silence. Arrie looked up from her plate.

"Yeah, I think so. Why?" she asked, her expression guarded.

"Oh, I was just wondering. I don't really know all that much about you," he stated looking at her. He saw her cock a single eyebrow at him.

"What, you wanting to get to know me or something?" she asked, incredulously.

" Well if I do recall correctly, you said you would explain about your father, this morning." Vincent noticed a small spasm cross her face. Almost as if she was scared to talk about it.

"Well, there isn't really all that much to talk about. I left, and I am not going back." She said adamantly.

"I see," Vincent took a moment to sop up some of his soup with his cornbread.

"I could be wrong. But that sort of sounds like a bit of a story to me. Consider it an employee background check." Vincent sat back in his chair, watching her. She didn't look up from her soup, but he could tell she was scowling at it from his point of view.

"Come on," he prompted. He heard her sigh heavily.

"Hold on. I'm trying to figure out where to start." She snapped.

"The beginning is usually a good place."

"Do you want to hear my story or not," Vincent shrank back a little from her livid expression.

"Sorry."

"Come on. Let's go to the living room. I am going to need hot chocolate for this," she said, taking his dishes with hers. Vincent got up from the table and went to hold the door for her. Normally he wouldn't, but his curiosity was getting the better of him. He waited impatiently while she made two cups of coco and then followed her to the living room. There she picked up a couple of logs and threw them on the fire, plugged in the Christmas tree that was still in the corner before curling up on one end of the couch with a blanket, her hot chocolate and the kitten. Vincent sat at the opposite end, angled towards her, feet extended across the couch. Apart from the Christmas tree and the fire, there were no other lights on in the room. Clinking dishes in the kitchen could be heard from where Percy and Ginny were finishing their own dinner. Vincent watched her avidly in the half light. Lightening flashed and then she took a deep breath as if stealing herself and then began her story.

"My Mom married a pig." Vincent raised an eyebrow.

"Wow, you get right to the point, don't you?" He said.

"Don't interrupt. Anyway. My mom married a pig. She was eighteen then and pregnant with me. Her parents threw her out because of it. So she moved into the crack shack with my dad. He was about four years older than her. He had been discharged dishonorably from the military and came to our town looking for a good time." Vincent could hear the disgust in her voice.

"Dad was an ass. He couldn't keep a job because he was either drunk or stoned ninety percent of the time. Mom worked. She paid the bills and gave him whatever was left over for his stuff. If she didn't, he would hit her." There was no sadness in Arries voice. Just a bitter hardness. Vincent got the impression she wasn't the type to cry.

"When I was ten, she left with another man. I remember it. She came out the back door screaming at my dad. I had been playing in her flowerbed. She hugged me, told me she would be back for me, and then got into the car with some man and left. A week later a cop showed up and told us she was dead." Vincent felt his stomach twist uncomfortably. Arrie looked up and saw his expression.

"What? You wanted to hear my story." She said. Her voice was cold and detached.

"Sorry, go on. I still do." Arrie took a moment to sip her hot chocolate and push away the kitten who was attempting to stick her nose in the mug.

"So after Mom died, I got to deal with it. If I didn't have any money, I was beaten. After that first month, I was put in foster care. I was in and out a lot until I turned fourteen. Then I got a job. I worked and saved any money I could. I made it through high school in one piece. Didn't have any friends though. I ran away a few times, but I was always forced to come back. I had five thousand dollars saved up until this November. I was planning on buying a bus ticket out of here and going to college. I wanted to be a cop. I came home one night and Dad had taken it all. He came home drunk and attacked me. Tried to choke me. He was mad I had been hiding money from him. So. I took a frying pan and hit him over the head and ran."

Vincent chortled to himself. He could see it all playing out in his mind. _She would be the type to hit you_ _with a frying pan_, he thought. He remembered when she had first arrived, the mark that marred her cheek.

"That's where you got that bruise from, wasn't it?" Arrie looked over him and nodded.

"After I left, I found out he had been arrested. People in town thought he had murdered me. I was stupid enough to go into town to go shopping a few weeks ago. People saw me and he was released. Now he's looking for me. I should have just played dead." She said, a note of irritation creeping into her voice.

"Why won't he just leave you alone?" Vincent asked.

"I don't know really. Mainly he's just stupid. He is probably wanting revenge for the frying pan," she said scathingly.

"I think if you hit me over the head with a frying pan and knocked me out, I'd leave you alone." Vincent told her. Arrie laughed.

"So now that I've told you my story, why don't you tell me yours." She said as she unwound her long legs from the ball she had been curled into and stretched them out towards him propping her feet up on his lap.

Vincent stiffened visibly. She was touching him. She as actually touching him. It wasn't the same as this morning when she had thought he was asleep.

"You don't have to," she said quickly seeing his reaction. Vincent gulped and looked away from her before he lost his nerve.

"No it's fine. You're right. You spilled your guts, guess I should."

Just then a loud pop resounded and the lights flickered and went out. An ear splitting crash sounded next and the house was left in darkness apart from the fire place. Arrie jumped to her feet.

"Ginny, Percy?" She shouted the older pairs name.

"We're all right. Powers just gone out." Their voices floated to them from the kitchen.

"Do you need us or anything? Lights?" Arrie called again. The older couple suddenly materialized out of the darkness with a candelabra.

"No, I believe we are just going to go to bed now. We are staying on the first floor tonight, in the guest suite. It's warmer in there. Vincent you are not to be going into that tower tonight. It's dark and freezing." Ginny said.

"And where do you propose I stay if not in my room?" he argued.

"Well you can stay in here if you like, or on the second floor. Maybe Arrie will let you stay in her room." Vincent caught the sly look on the old woman's face and blushed furiously.

"If you want, Vincent, I'll stay down here with you." Vincent turned quickly to look at Arrie. She was looking at him. Feeling the heat crawl across his face, he sat back down on the couch and turned away from her.

"I'll just sleep on the couch. You can stay wherever you like." He said shortly.

"Good night you two," Percy said, laughter evident in his tone. Then the elderly pair disappeared down the hall.

"Here, get off the couch a second, and I'll move it closer to the fire place. It's probably going to get really cold tonight, and it doesn't look like the storm is going to let up any time soon." Arrie told him.

"Nah, it's fine where it is. I don't want to be any closer to the fire." Vincent said, quickly.

Arrie gave him a questioning look but didn't argue. Pulling out extra blankets she spread one over him, before sitting back on her end of the couch. Vincent watched her from behind his hair. He jumped when he felt her toes nuzzle up under his leg.

"Oh sorry," she muttered in embarrassment.

"It's alright. Just wasn't expecting it. If your feet are cold, you can put them back," he told her. Almost immediately he could feel her toes wiggle back under his leg. His heart raced at the alien contact. He hadn't been this comfortable with anyone since he and Afton had split up. He worried what this might mean later on down the road.

"So, tell me about yourself." Arrie said after a moment, interrupting his train of thought. Vincent leaned his head back against the couch and sighed.

"What do you want to know?" he asked after a moment.

"Could you tell me about how you got your scar?" she asked quietly. He looked at her out of his good eye and saw that she had the blankets pulled up to her chin, eyes wide and staring at him. The kitten was sitting on the crest of the couch swatting at her hair.

"Oh what the hell," he mumbled to himself. She was bound to find out sometime.

"I guess it starts about three years ago. I was in college. I partied a lot, and my parents got sick of it. They were pissed I was flunking out, so they cut me off. They didn't even call me. I met this guy, his name was Riley. He had one of the most bad ass clubs in town. I hung out there a lot. He got me into gambling." He stopped and glanced at Arrie. She was listening with avid attention. Lightening flashed and lit up the room.

"I got in deep. Riley was a thug. I ended up owing him fifty grand."

"That is a lot of money," Arrie said quietly. Vincent shot her a look.

"Anyway, I couldn't pay. I tried to gamble my way out of the debt, but it only got worse. I tried to run. Riley caught me. He and his buddies. They." Vincent found that his voice seemed to choke and die. He tried to draw a ragged breath. This was the first time he had talked about this with anyone since it had happened. He hadn't even told the police. It was much harder than he thought it would be. He noticed Arrie shift on her end of the couch out of his peripheral vision. This was it. This would be wear she decided he was just a useless punk like his family and leave him here.

"They beat me, and burned my apartment. I was in a coma for almost two weeks." He forced the rest of his story out in a rush. The smell from the fireplace seemed to permeate the air and Vincent found himself trying to suck in oxygen.

"Vincent," He jumped when he noticed Arrie was sitting next to him on the couch. She reached towards him and took his hand, the scarred one and gripped it tightly. His already erratic heart felt like it was going to burst from his chest any second.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I shouldn't have asked," She said.

"Not your fault," he said. His throat felt like he had swallowed metal shards. "My parent's blame me. My father thinks I am useless. And he's right." He turned away from her, unable to look to see if she found him as loathsome as everyone else.

"Vincent, look at me." When he didn't, he felt Arries hand reach out and grasp his chin, pulling his face around to face her. He stared at the floor, his face hard.

"You are not useless. You made a mistake. Everyone does." She told him sternly. Finally he looked up and met her eyes.

"I am. My own family thinks I am a monster." Arrie reached up and placed her hand on the scar on the side of his face. Her fingers felt cool against the mottled skin. Vincent closed his eyes at her touch, sighing heavily. No one had touched him like this in so long.

"If anyone thinks you are a monster because of a couple of scars, then they are the monsters." She said softly. Vincent opened his eyes to find Arrie only six inches from his face. Her blue eyes seemed to encompass his entire field of vision. They stayed like that for several seconds. Vincent heart was still pounding but now for very different reasons. Vincent felt her fingers gently run through his hair. He sighed again, in self agitation. He needed to stop this. It couldn't go on. Reaching up he removed her fingers from his hair gently.

"Thanks," he said, turning away from her, so that she couldn't see how badly it hurt him to stop her.

"Vincent." He heard her whisper his name.

"I think I am going to go to sleep now," he told her, pretending to not notice. He heard her exhale heavily.

"Do you want me to go to my room and leave you alone?" She asked.

"You don't have to." He told her. Inside he could hear himself screaming for her to go and stay all at the same time. He turned to see her curl up on the end of the couch with the blanket and pull the kitten into her arms and close her eyes. He mirrored her actions. Had he looked back one last time, he would have seen a tear slide silently down her cheek.

**And there is Chapter 9. Bet you all thought there was a kiss coming didn't you. =) Don't hate me. We will get there eventually. Let me know what you think of this chapter. It's the longest one I've written. I've checked for typos and nothing caught my eye. If you guys see anything that doesn't make sense just let me know. I just got super excited and had to go ahead and share this chapter. Also a big THANKYOU to all my reviews! Super excited that I now have 20 of them! Keep it up guys! You give me inspiration to write and get my story out faster!**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Coward

Arrie curled up on her end of the couch, frustration seething through her entire body. She was an absolute idiot. One hundred percent moron. What had she been thinking moving that close to him? What did she expect? That he would realize she didn't care about his stupid scars and that she thought she might be falling dangerously close into loving him? She swiped at the tears she fought angrily. Just plain stupid. Who was she kidding thinking that he might actually ever think of her as more than just his maid. He was in a totally different class than her. He had money, a large and grand house, connections too probably. Why would he want to mess with trash such as herself when he could have beautiful women like that Afton girl. She needed to get her head out of the clouds. This wasn't one of her stupid books. She needed to straighten up before she really screwed up and lost her job and somewhere to live. Vincent had clearly drawn an invisible line and had made it obvious she wasn't to cross it.

The darkness of the room crept closer in, the fire crackled merrily and the storm raged on. Sleep wouldn't come. Sometime after midnight the wind finally stopped howling. Arrie got off of the couch and loaded the fire place up with heavy logs and then crept to the window to peak out at the now frozen wonderland that was the grounds. Everything was covered in the snowy-ice mixture and had even blown in on the covered porch. The cold was permeating the glass. Shivering she crept back to the couch and stretched out as far as she dared trying not to poke Vincent with her feet and wake him. Luna, in her absence had moved to sit on the pillow right next to his head and was swatting at a stray lock of hair.

"You goofy thing, come here and quit that!" she whispered reaching precariously to snatch the kitten up without waking Vincent. Just as she had stretched over Vincent and had gotten her fingers on the cat he moved and knocked into her legs. Arrie pitched silently in panic for a second before bracing herself. She was now held up with her arms on either side of him, not daring to breath, inches from his face. Arrie slowly scooted back and once finally repositioned on her side of the couch she breathed out slowly, heart hammering.

That had been close. To close. She quickly stuffed the kitten under the blanket and between the cushions. She then reached for the blanket to discover Vincent had stolen most of it in his sleep. She very carefully tugged the blanket towards herself and then froze when he shifted and started talking.

"Arrie, I'm asleep, it's cold, quit stealing my blankets." He mumbled. She was pretty sure he was still mostly asleep.

"You've got them all. I don't have any, share," she hissed back in agitation. He mumbled incoherently and tugged the blankets nearly out of her grasp again.

"Vincent," she whispered irritably.

"If you're cold, just sleep on my side. Warmer that way, anyway." Arrie sat back a moment in shock. She wondered if he was awake now. Arrie waited for another moment in deliberation and silently argued with herself before, finally, after shivering uncontrollably with no blanket, she decided to take him up on his offer. He had invited her to at least, so it wasn't like she was really crossing that line.

Knowing that she would regret it in the morning she scooted up next to him on the wide couch and pulled the blanket over both of them and quickly utilized his shoulder as her pillow. She took a moment to take in his Irish spring soap scent, and the clean smell of his freshly laundered shirt. He was warm and soft, and his face, which she could just make out from her vantage point, was peaceful. She silently berated herself. She should not allow this to mean anything to her, because it certainly wouldn't mean anything to him. She was too close to her own line by now.

The flips her stomach was doing, however told her she was already put her toe across it. She was being utterly stupid if she thought she was going to sleep now, even if she was so lovely warm. At least now she could have this memory to go along with her picture. It was to be the only one she would probably ever get anyway. This was wrong. Not meant to be. He was her employer.

"Told you it would be warmer this way," Arrie's heart stopped for only a moment and then picked up again in triple time at the words whispered in her ear and the pair of strong arms that had snaked around her waist. Arrie felt not only warm, but hot now, and for very different reasons other than the warm fire and shared blanket. She chanced a peek up at his face again, and saw that his eyes were still closed. She couldn't trust to know if he was actually asleep now or not. However his breathing was steady, as was the beat of his heart.

See, you idiot. Now go to sleep and don't waste the warmth, she told herself exasperatedly. Soon, despite her misgivings, Arrie was sleeping soundly.

The next morning bright light filtered into the sitting room and Arrie woke to find herself very warm and comfortable. Warmer than she had ever been in her life. She groggily opened her eyes and looked around in confusion when she noticed she was not in her own room or her bed. That's when she noticed Vincent still sleeping soundly next to her, his arm draped across her waist.

"Ohmygod!" She squeaked and tried to scoot away from him as quickly as possible and landed hard on the floor with a loud grunt, dragging the blankets with her. Face burning in embarrassment she looked up to see Vincent groggily turn over and sit up, rubbing his eyes.

"What are you doing on the floor?" he asked her in confusion.

"I am so sorry. I shouldn't have, it was just so cold, and I was stupid," Arrie said all of this very fast as she tried to pick herself up off the floor and tripped knocking into the lamp on the end table.

"What are you talking about?" Arrie looked at him in disbelief.

"You don't remember?" Arrie asked. Vincent shook his head.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." He told her, rubbing at his good eye in confusion.

"I um.. I … I am sorry, I crossed a line. I fell asleep on your side of the couch. I shouldn't have. I'm an idiot." She said, still talking to fast and looked from the floor to the door to the ceiling or really anything that wasn't Vincent by this point.

"You are so weird." He said after a moment of staring at her. Arrie chewed at her bottom lip, worriedly.

"I know." An awkward silence filled the room until with a sputtering, buzzing sounded the lamps flickered back on.

"Oh good. The powers back on." She stated.

"I see that,"

God this is just plain awkward by now. I am stating the obvious, she thought to her self, blushing furiously.

"For the record, I don't mind." He said to her. Arrie finally chanced a glance in his direction and saw that he was smirking at her. Her eyebrows raised in confused irritation.

"Mind what?" she asked, before she could stop herself. He just continued to smirk at her and then getting off the couch, limped from the room.

The next couple of days felt very awkward for Arrie. She tried to avoid Vincent as much as possible, mainly due to the fact that every time she was around him she dropped whatever she was holding at the time or knocked something over. If he entered a room she was in she tried to leave as quickly as possible, and she stayed away from the tower except for when she took him breakfast. She knew she was being ridiculous. She had made a promise to herself to not do this and yet she had almost broken it immediately.

She had a serious infatuation problem by now and she didn't think it could possibly be healthy. The afternoon she had decided to take down the Christmas tree he strolled in, picked a book and sat down on the couch. Within the first thirty minutes she broke three different ornaments and after the third item of the day Vincent rounded on her and grabbed her wrist in his hand. Her heart raced and she felt like lighting was coursing through her veins at his touch.

"Arrie, what is wrong? Did I do something? You have been acting like a crack addict whenever I enter a room." He said to her.

"No. I mean, it isn't your fault. I'm sorry I've been so clumsy. I'm just having an off day." She said trying to act normal, and hoping that her pounding pulse didn't give her away. He must have known she was lying though.

"Are you happy here? You've just seemed kind of distant the last couple of days. You know you can tell me, right?" He asked catching her off guard.

"What? Of course I am happy. Why wouldn't I be?" she asked, surprised.

"Well, I just wondered. I thought I might have said something I shouldn't have and everything. I feel like you have been avoiding me." He said not looking to meet her eye.

"No, I've decided to not let anything you say make me upset anymore. Not that you have said anything upsetting." She said, turning back to the tree and catching sight of the kitten who was climbing up the trunk. She reached in to grab her for the fifth time that day with her free hand.

"Well then do try to relax around me. I don't know what's going on with you, but I really don't think I can listen to you break all of our ornaments in one afternoon." He told her. Pulling the kitten back out she set it back down on the couch.

"You're absolutely right. I'm sorry." She said. He eyed her carefully one last time, before releasing her hands and going back to the couch.

The next couple of days Arrianna made an extreme effort to keep herself relaxed and from doing anything to terribly embarrassing. They talked casually about his life before his accident, and about the places he had traveled. Although Arrie made a point of never bringing up past relationships. She didn't want to have to go through that topic with him. It was hard enough for her to act normally around him.

The snow was finally starting to melt by the beginning of the new week but it was still bitterly cold around the manor. What melted during the day refroze at night, and they were forced to keep the fires in the house going constantly in the main rooms. Arrie noticed Vincent stayed in the main part of the house more often than he did in the tower, no doubt owing to its drafty quality.

He had taken to following her around and they would talk some afternoons while she worked or he would sit in the living room and read books that she recommended from the vast collection. It had become quite a peaceful routine, and she was excited to see the dawn come, and sad when the evening's ended. She was getting better at controlling her emotions and not being a total basket case whenever he was around. It was hard though. She knew it was too late to try and prevent the somewhat unwelcome feelings she now had for him.

She had adopted the philosophy that it was better to suffer in silence and be alone than have him know the truth. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. And she had decided that she above anything else didn't want to ever hurt him. She would rather be his friend than nothing at all. Which was utterly ridiculous and dangerous. She had come to the conclusion that it might possibly destroy her if she was not with him in some way shape or form. If he only knew he had the power to destroy her, she wondered what he would do with it.

A week after the massive snow storm Arrie had been restacking firewood outside, bundled up from the bitter cold when a sleek silver sedan pulled into the driveway. A very well dressed couple exited the vehicle and then made their way up the icy steps onto the porch. The man was tall, dark and brooding. Arrie decided he would be quite good looking if he didn't scowl the way he did. The woman was blonde, thin, very attractive and wearing the most ridiculous high heels she had ever seen in her life.

"Can I help you?" Arrie asked them as the man put his hand on the knob to enter the house.

"Who are you?" Arrie didn't understand the accusatory tone in his, haughty voice.

"I'm Arrianna, I work here." She said.

"I am Carson Thorn, and this is my wife Natalie. Would you mind getting the door? Seeing's how you work here and all." Oh, that makes sense now, she thought. Arrie blushed fiercely at his tone and quickly opened the door to allow them into the house.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize-" the half formed apology died on Arries lips as Mrs. Thorn cut across her. 

"God this place is so drafty and dusty. I don't know why we haven't just gotten rid of it." Mrs. Thorn stated in obvious distaste, her glossed lips pointed down in a scowl.

"I thought you said you worked here. Aren't you going to take my coat? Where are Percy and Ginny?" she asked Arrie in a superior tone that told Arrie this woman was used to getting whatever she wanted and unaccustomed to neglect of any variety. As if on cue Ginny and Percy came down the hall from the kitchen.

"Mr. & Mrs. Thorn what a lovely surprise." Percy greeted, while Ginny helped Mrs. Thorn with her coat. Arrie took her cue to disappear down the hallway and into the kitchen. She caught sight of Vincent's stricken face from the sitting room as she ducked into the kitchen, tears of embarrassed fury filling her eyes.

"A pot of coffee in the sitting room, if you please Percy and something to snack on. Send Vincent in." she heard Mr. Thorn say.

Ginny quickly came in to the kitchen behind her.

"They are awful!" Arrie hissed filling the coffee pot with water.

"They aren't the most pleasant, that's for sure." Said Ginny comfortingly.

"Just stay in here and away from them. I doubt they will be staying long."

Arrie nodded in agreement. While the coffee heated, Arrie stood near the door to listen to the conversation coming from the sitting room.

"Well son, we are stopping by to check up and make sure you're doing alright."

"You mean checking to make sure I'm staying out of trouble," Came Vincent's angry response.

"You will not talk to me that way. You will respect me, son." Said Mr. Thorn in clipped tones.

"So the doctors, couldn't fix his face?" came the slightly nasal voice of Mrs. Thorn.

"Nice to see you too, mom. Glad you could get off the beach to come visit." Arrie's hands shook with anger.

"Shut up, Vincent!" Shouted Mr. Thorn.

"What do you want, Dad?"

"To find out if you have made any plans for your future."

"What do you mean? What am I supposed to be able to do?" Vincent asked in irritation.

"See, Natalie, I told you he wouldn't have been making any plans! I knew you wouldn't! Just a lazy, useless, leach!" said Mr. Thorn. Arrie poked her head out of the swinging door to see, Mr. Thorn pacing in agitation. Vincent stood to one side, staring at the floor.

"What am I supposed to do, Dad? I can barely walk, I can't go out in public looking like this." He stated angrily pointing at his face.

"No, you certainly can't. I don't guess you will ever get married. I mean who would want you looking like that." Mrs. Thorn interjected. Arrie's hands were balled into fist's by this point.

"You are a coward, boy. You will never know how to be a real man like me." Carson Thorn stated.

"Yeah, because being a bully got you so far!" shouted Vincent. "I'm the coward? How am I a coward? You are the one who is a coward. You haven't seen me in almost a year. And this is the first time, Mom has even seen me since this all happened. And you, you won't even look at me now!" Vincent shouted at her in turn. The beep of the coffee pot went unnoticed.

"Don't make this about you and your pitiful little accident!" Mr. Thorn shouted equally as loud.

"God, it always was about you, growing up Vincent. Even Afton thought so. That's why she left you!" Mrs. Thorn interjected.

"No, Mom, it's always been about what was easiest for you to deal with. You didn't want to be a parent, or be there for me. Whenever things get tough or uncomfortable you would just rather not deal with them at all. Forget they exist. Forget I exist. Just take Dad's money and go lay out somewhere in the Hamptons. Get real, MOM. And Afton has nothing to do with any of this!" Arrie felt the knots in her stomach tighten.

"We are done here, Vincent. You've held true to your end of the bargain and stayed clean. Your doctors say you haven't even filled your pain meds. You'll inherit everything, because I have no one else to leave it to, and I am firmly convinced that you can't survive on your own without the money. But for god's sake just sell the damn thing. Don't ruin all of my hard work. Natalie get your coat. We are leaving." A loud scathing sound came from her, and Arrie quickly ducked back into the kitchen to keep from being seen.

"You're just a weak little coward. You'll never be anything. You won't be a real man." Mr. Thorn could be heard saying to Vincent.

"Well if you are what you think a real man should be. Then I count myself lucky that I am not in your league. You see only what you want to." Vincent said bitterly.

"Good bye, son."

And with that the door slammed shut. Arrie all but ran down the hall towards the sitting room. The visit had been brief but disastrous. She couldn't believe how cruel his own family was to him. She found him next to the window staring moodily out as the car peeled out of the driveway.

"Insufferable ass holes. Good riddance. " He muttered before turning to find her standing there.

"Vincent, I am soo sorry." She said. Shock was still emanating from her features and she saw that he had a very ugly look on his face indeed.

"Not your fault," he muttered limping to the couch and collapsing on it. She sat down next to him on the couch and grabbed his hand, temporarily forgetting that line she had drawn.

"It isn't right. Don't let them belittle you like that. You are a good person. And you are not a coward. You've lived through true horror and you faced it. That's not cowardly at all. They are the cowards because they can't accept that." She told him emphatically.

"What, you don't see me as a spoiled, cowardly monster then?" He asked incredulously.

"No, I most certainly do not. Well. You are spoiled, but you aren't a monster or a coward either." She told him with a lopsided smile. He peeked out at her ruefully from the corner of his eye.

"If you say so." He muttered.

"I do say so. And I am usually right." She said. He laughed.

"Come on. Let's go get that coffee," she said, pulling him off the couch. They walked into the kitchen to find Ginny and Percy sitting at the table each with a mug of their own. Percy glanced down at their joined hands and then raised his eyebrows at Arrie. Seeing his glance, she regretfully dropped Vincent's hand and went to the cabinets to grab two more mugs.

"Well, Master Vincent, it could have been worse," said Percy as Vincent pulled out his own chair and sat down.

"Yes, I suppose it could." He ceded.

"I at least am still getting the company. And I still have this place, and you guys. So I guess I am better off anyway." He said.

"What are you planning on doing with the company after you've gotten it?" Ginny asked.

"I'm not really sure. I've never really been interested in running anything." Vincent said.

"What kind of company is it?" asked Arrie as she too joined the table next to Vincent and placed his mug in front of him.

"It's a plant really. A big truck manufacturing company. It's fairly profitable. What do you think I should do with it Percy?" Vincent asked the older man.

"It's not really my place to tell you what to do with it, Sir." Percy said.

"Why not allow it to just keep running as it is? If it's profitable then don't fix what isn't broken. In fact, have you ever considered fixing the old plant, mill thing here and opening a second one? It would provide jobs. Boost local economy," Arrie said after a moment of silent contemplation.

"Not really, but that's not a bad idea," Vincent acknowledged. Percy nodded in agreement.

"Well, we've got things to be getting on with. You two out of my kitchen." Ginny said standing up from the table and gesturing at Vincent and Arrie.

"I've got to finish with the firewood and the place needs to be vacuumed." Arrie agreed, also standing to leave.

"I suppose I'll just sit around and do nothing." Vincent said, as a sigh escaped him.

"Oh don't act so pitiful. You can come out and stack firewood with me," Arrie suggested brightly.

"Oh I think not." Arrie stuck her tongue out at him and ruffled his hair as she walked past.

"Suite yourself." She said before disappearing out the door.

The afternoon continued and went on without any disturbances. Arrie worked outside until her fingers were numb from the cold. She contemplated on how wrong the Thorns were. Vincent, she had decided, had changed, and he was nothing like their descriptions of him. They are evil, she thought savagely. Vincent was a good person. He had made mistakes in the past but who hadn't? He was getting better. He was better now than when she had first met him two months ago.

In fact, when she thought about it, his change had been drastic really. He was kind to her now, and kinder to Percy and Ginny, more appreciative. He wasn't quite the spoiled little brat he had been. This was the Vincent she knew she was starting to fall for. He had shown himself capable of change for the better. The Thorn's were wrong. He had been given the hardest of odds, and he had beaten them. He had faced them. That didn't make him a coward at all.

Thinking this way she knew was dangerous for her. But Arrie had slowly passed the point of no return, as far as her feelings were concerned. She knew she would be hurt in the end, but by now she just couldn't help it, no matter how much she argued with herself. Besides, he didn't even know that she felt this way about him. It couldn't hurt her if he didn't even know himself, now could it? She tried to reason with herself.

Arrie finally was able to go and shower before dinner as the sun was going down. She figured tonight would be a good night to curl up on the couch in front of the fire with a book and veg out. It had been a ridiculously long day. Vincent had stopped eating alone in the formal dining room by now and sat with the rest of them in the kitchen at the small table.

"Have you two got any plans for this evening?" Ginny asked at dinner.

"I have a hot date with a book and the couch," Arrie said taking a bite of her pasta. Vincent coughed loudly before turning to her.

"Who are you having in my house?" He asked furiously.

"What are you talking about? No one," she said in confusion.

"Then who's the hot date?" He asked.

"Um.. My book.." she said, raising her eyebrows incredulously.

"Oh," Arrie thought she saw him blush.

"If you wanna be the hot date thought, I'll let you." She said. Then realizing what she had said aloud, Arrie clapped her hand over her mouth in absolute horror. No she had not just said that to him. She stared down at her plate in mortification, no longer even remotely hungry. She thought she might could just simply die right here and right now. She was pretty sure the heat in her face could be felt across the table at Percy and Ginny, both who appeared to be laughing at her.

"Uh, huh. Well lucky for you, my date canceled. I'll see ya at eight." He said sitting back and getting to his feet.

"Vincent, I didn't mean it like that, I was just kidding," she tried to explain quickly.

"Sure you were. Eight o'clock," he said before walking out, still laughing at her. She stared after him opened mouth before shouting after him.

"I'm still bringing my book just in case you get boring!" If he was going to pick on her, then she was going to pick right back.

"Good lord, girl. If you aren't just brazen." Said Ginny, wiping her eyes with her napkin.

"It's not funny! I didn't mean to actually say that!" she hissed at the old woman.

"Too late now. You have to go."

"Oh hush, both of you." Arrie snapped as she got up from the table and placed the dishes in the sink. Then she stormed out of the kitchen and up to her room. Once there, she quickly pulled on her favorite pajamas that were warm, and fuzzy then wrapped her robe around herself. She grabbed her book and the kitten, who was furiously digging in the litter box and headed down to the sitting room. Vincent was already there on his end of the couch, flicking through channels.

"What didn't want to dress up?" he asked her catching sight of her celestial dotted pants.

"Oh shut up, you know I was kidding," she said irritably. Dropping the kitten and her book on his lap she turned to the fire and threw on a couple of logs.

"So how was your day?" he asked, nonchalantly. Arrie snorted.

"About as good as yours." She retorted. He laughed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. At least you got to hide in the kitchen," he told her as she sat down next to him and spread out a blanket.

"True. I would have probably gone off the handle, had I been in there." Arrie said.

"For your sake I am glad you didn't." he told her seriously. She looked at him for a moment feeling the now familiar swooping sensation in her stomach. Arrie could swear there was a tension in the air between them, but ignored it and tried to visualize her imaginary line and how close she was to it. If it were an electrical line and she was this close to it, her hair would probably be standing on end.

"So, what's this hot book, about?" he asked after another moment of tense silence.

"Huh? Oh, um, The Hobbit." She said distractedly.

"The Hobbit? Like, give me the ring, my preciousss?"He asked, in a terrible imitation of Gollum.

"Yeah, that one. It's one of my favorites." She said.

"I saw the movies for The Lord of the Rings. It wasn't bad. A little confusing," he said.

"The Hobbit is great. It's the beginning of the story on how Bilbo gets the ring." Arrie explained.

"Cool. Guess, I'll have to read it," Vincent said.

"You should. It's awesome." Another tense silence filled the room.

"Vincent, I'm really sorry about today," Arrie said after a moment. Vincent stretched his legs out onto the foot rest before answering her.

"Don't be. They have always been like that." He said flicking through channels again. He settled on a movie and didn't say anything else for a while. Arrie finally opened her book and began reading, deciding she had better stop the conversation now, before she said anything stupid. Luna, the kitten curled up in the small space between them on the couch. After a while the warmth of the room began to make Arrie drowsy and the words on the page seemed to go fuzzy. The low hum of the television in the background soon lulled her into a stupor and her head dropped onto Vincent's shoulder. He looked down and smiled at her, before he rested his head on top of hers and dropped into sleep himself.

A shrill ring rent the air, and both snapped awake banging their heads. Luna was dislodged and knocked to the floor.

"What the hell?" Vincent asked pulling his cell from his pocket. He squinted at the caller ID before answering it.

"Hello? Yes, this is Vincent Thorn? What? Which hospital? I'll be there as soon as possible." Arrie sat up and rubbed the half formed sleep from her eyes.

"What is it?" She mumbled. She caught sight of Vincent's stricken face.

"Vincent, what's wrong?" She asked now with serious concern lacing her tones.

"That was Metro Hospital. My parents have been in a car crash. They hit a patch of black ice and the car flipped on them."

"Are they all right?" Arrie asked shocked.

"We have to go right now. Get Percy and Ginny." Arrie nodded and after squeezing his hand ran from the room.

**A.N. And there is Chapter 10! Sorry about the wait everybody! Let me know what you think, to much fluff? Not enough?! The reviews and comments are really encouraging and much appreciated!**

**-Muse**


	11. Chapter 11

**A.N. I am so excited that I have 30 reviews! You guys are the best! Here is chapter 11. Let me know what you think. A for-warning, tissues may be required for this chapter. Also, I'm posting this at 1 in the morning and I am dead tired. If you spot any horrendous mistakes please let me know so I can fix it. Thanks! Don't forget to RnR. **

**-Muse**

Chapter 11

Alone in the Dark

Vincent had climbed to the tower and was in the process of throwing anything in his hands into the travel bag open on his bed in agitation. Arrie came in less than five minutes later her own bag slung over her shoulder.

"Calm down, I've got it. Go ahead and get to the car." She told him as he threw a pair of shoes in agitated panic. Vincent didn't need to be told twice. He did his best at what could be a limping run and had settled into the back seat of the car by the time she came running down the stairs.

"We have to hurry." He stated. Arrie didn't answer him, just nodded and slammed the door of the car as she crawled into the back seat with him. By the time the clock had reached ten minutes after the initial phone call, the Mercedes was nosing down the driveway, gravel flying under the spinning tires, Percy at the wheel. The sun had set an hour before, and the dark twisty roads to the highway with their hairpin turns, was enough to make Vincent feel car sick alongside the nerves that already had his stomach feeling like a thousand snakes were writhing inside it. His legs were practically trembling with adrenalin that he had no outlet for. At one point Arrie reached across to him and took his ringing hands in her own. she grasped his hand in hers and intertwined their fingers. He didn't look at her but he felt when she squeezed it reassuringly. It helped to barely quell the fear that was boiling in him, that threatened to escape at any second. Fear that it would all end like this. Words spoken that couldn't be taken back, that weren't meant.

The car ride that should have lasted an hour and a half, only took forty five minutes. Percy turned on the flashers of the Mercedes as they picked up speed and flew down the highway. No one spoke the entire time, and Arrie didn't release her hold on Vincent's hand at all, for which he was thankful.

The car edged up to the curve of the ER among the other vehicles and ambulances littering the drive of the hospital. Vincent climbed out of the back seat before Percy had even come to a full stop and had limped through the double sliding glass doors of the ER. A doctor greeted him at the door and the two disappeared before Arrie had even reached the front desk. The sterile, dry air nearly made Vincent gag as he followed the doctor to a private room.

"I'm going to be honest. He doesn't have a lot of time left. We've stopped the bleeding on his brain as much as possible, but I don't think he has more than an hour left. His skull is irreparable. We've removed part of the bone so that the swelling won't make it worse. You need to go ahead and say your final goodbyes. I'm sorry. There is nothing more that we can do. We've tried to make him comfortable." Vincent nodded, his inside's turning to ice at the news. It was too much too fast. The doctor spotted Percy and headed over to shake his hand.

"How's Natalie?" he heard him ask.

"We think she will be alright. She had a broken collar and arm. She is in recovery now."

Cane clunking, Vincent entered the private room as if heading towards the gallows. He couldn't face this. He wanted to fix everything from before, to take back what he had said, but he didn't know how to now, and he no longer had the time. He tried to take in a ragged breath, but the air seemed to become trapped in his lungs. His father lay in the bed, head wrapped in blood soaked bandages, eyes closed. He was hooked to what appeared to be every machine in the building. Tubes protruded from his nose and arms. Cuts and bruises littered his skin.

"Dad, I'm so sorry. I wish none of this had happened," he heard himself say. He sat down on the edge of the bed, no longer able to stand, and gripped his father's hand. His eyes burned. His father opened one eye, the one that wasn't swollen shut.

"Is your mother alright?" His father asked him. The effort it took for Carson to speak, his words slurred, eyes unfocused was heart breaking. Vincent was used to a man who stood strong, proud, and took whatever he wanted, not this broken child before him.

"She is fine Dad, just some minor injuries. You gotta stick this out though. You can't quit on me now." Vincent said, agony lacing his tones. The burning in his eyes spilled and slid silently down his cheeks.

"Listen to me, son. I know I haven't got long. No use pretending. I wanan say I'm sorry. I was wrong earlier today. You were right, I've been a coward." Vincent tried to protest, because he knew better. His father needed to know.

"No. Do me this one last favor. Go easy on your mother. This is all my fault. I want you to know that I know it's all my fault. Don't blame her or yourself." Carson said in ragged tones. Vincent shook his head.

"Dad," Vincent's eyes burned at the injustice and cruelty of it all. Pain, emotionally and physically seemed to permeate the air, thick as smoke, making breathing agonizing. This was really it. This was the end and he didn't think he could face it.

"I was going to try to make it all right, to fix this. But it seems I no longer have the time." Vincent stopped trying to say anything by this point and his shoulders shook with silent tears. He felt so weak. Alone.

"Dad, you can't leave me yet," he whispered as fear settled over him.

"You're a good man, Vincent. I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner. You've made me proud. I'm glad I was able to tell you." Vincent felt his father's hand go lax in his grip.

"Dad?" The simple word barely came out in a whisper. The once, strong and proud face of Carson Thorn went completely blank. The look of pain had disappeared from his eye. Vincent felt the panic that had been so close to the surface finally erupt.

"Dad!" Vincent now shouted.

A loud flat beep filled the room and the doctor left his conversation with Percy and rushed past Arrie, who had been standing outside, into the room. Ginny sat down opposite of Arrie outside and pulled out a tissue to dab at her flowing eyes and nose as she blinked furiously. Vincent stood in shock as the doctor all but forced him from the bedside. More tears flowed. That was it. He was gone.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Thorn. He's gone," the doctor seemed to echo Vincent's thoughts as he covered Carson Thorn's prone body with a sheet. Vincent backed away slowly towards the door. He needed to get out. To be alone. The air, thick as death itself, weighed down on his chest. He turned to leave. He saw Arrie sitting next to Ginny, her own eyes red. He didn't stop. He didn't speak. His hand, slick with sweat, nearly lost its grip on the cane.

"Come on, you two. We must see to Natalie." He heard Percy say in a thick voice as he headed over to them.

"What about Vincent?" Arrie asked.

"He will be along shortly. I think he needs to be alone." Percy said. Arrie nodded as she and Ginny got to their feet and headed down to Mrs. Thorn's room.

Vincent pushed his way past people and headed back out the double doors and into the frost bitten night. There he stayed for hours, walking around aimlessly. No one dared approach him. He knew he should probably go see his mother. She was no doubt awake by now and knew what had happened. His breath puffed out in front of him into the clear night. The stars shown, winking periodically at him. Here in the darkness he could be alone and think. Come to terms with what had just taken place. He figured he should probably be thankful to have been awarded the last couple of moments he had gotten with his father. However, he only felt bitterness. Dark as the night around him, it settled within him, consuming him whole.

By three a.m. he had finally gotten himself under control. There were things that needed doing. He now had a responsibility to see to his mother and make arrangements for his father. Going back inside, he set out for his mother's room. Sadness and guilt weighed down on him like a heavy cloak. There he found Ginny and Percy, dosing in chairs. His mother was sleeping soundly, due, he figured the heavy drugs she was on. Arrie was nowhere to be found. He woke the older pair.

"Oh, Vincent we've been so worried," Whispered Ginny. He turned his back and headed out the door.

"Where's Arrianna?" he asked sharply. He didn't need anyone's sympathy right now or he would never get out of the room. Keeping himself distant and hollow was the plan. He didn't plan on feeling anything until he was ready too.

"I don't know. She disappeared a couple of hours ago." Percy said following him.

"Find the coroner and get things set up for the local funeral home. I want to meet in the morning. When is Mom supposed to be released?" He asked, trying to not be brisk, and failing.

"She should be able to leave by ten in the morning. Would you like to return home tonight, or would you prefer to stay here in town?" said Percy. Vincent checked his watch and saw that it was going on three thirty.

"Just get a hotel." He said retreating.

"Where are you going?" asked Ginny.

"To find Arrianna so we can leave. I'll meet you at the car in fifteen minutes." He called over his shoulder before exiting through the double doors. He walked for ten minutes before he found her sitting on a stone bench alone, staring off into space. Her cheeks were pale from the cold, and he wondered how long she had been sitting there. As he approached a young man wearing hospital scrubs walked up to her. Vincent gritted his teeth in anger.

"Are you alright? Do you need me to call someone?" Vincent saw her look up in confusion at the young man in scrubs, who approached her nursing a cigarette and what appeared to be a warm cup of coffee.

"No, thanks. I'm fine." He heard her say to him, a blank look on her face.

"Are you sure? You look a little lost. You've been out here for hours." Arrie seemed to raise her eyebrows in confusion.

"What? What time is it?" she asked.

"Almost three thirty in the morning."

Surprise flickered across her face. She stood stiffly.

"You want I can take you to get some breakfast or something. I'm on break," he said edging closer. Anger propelled Vincent forward as Arrie took a step back from the guy.

"No, thanks. I've got people waiting for me." She said, trying to go around him and back towards the entrance of the ER.

"You sure?"

"She is definitely sure. She is with me. Take someone else to breakfast." Vincent said in a sharp voice as he limped towards her.

Within seconds he was next to her, a livid expression on his mottled face.

"Ha, no way is she with someone like you. She could totally score better than a freak show like you." The guy said scathingly to Vincent.

Before any of them realized what had happened a resounding crunch left the orderly with a bleeding and very crooked nose, coffee covering him, the result of Arries fierce right hook.

"What the hell, bitch!" he shouted at her, cradling his nose. She advanced on him with a livid expression.

"That is assault! I'll call the cops!" he continued, stepping back from her.

"Really? And tell them what? That a girl broke your nose after you harassed her and her friends after a loss to their family?" she asked in a dangerously low and even tone. Vincent watched her warily, worried he was going to have to restrain her from pouncing on the guy.

"I could have you fired on ethical mal practice. I suggest you leave now, before that becomes necessary." Vincent interjected, stepping forward. The man stepped back and removed a hand from his bleeding nose, palm towards them in defeat.

"Sorry, bro. No harm, no foul. Forget I was here," said the man before disappearing back through the ER doors.

"I don't need you taking up for me," Vincent told her coldly, once the man was gone. Arrie's mouth fell open in shock.

"But he-" she tried to protest.

"I don't care what you think. I can fight my own battles, so next time, just butt out." He said turning away. Vincent saw her eyes, already red, well up with more tears.

"Come on. We are going to the hotel." Vincent said, already heading towards the parking garage.

"Hotel?" Arrie asked in confusion, behind him.

"Yeah, they are holding mom until ten in the morning. Once she is released we will go to the funeral home and make arrangements. Might as well try to get some sleep. No point in driving all the way back to Thornwall." He said, bitterness lacing his voice. Arrie nodded and followed him to where Percy and Ginny waited next to the car silently. Sliding into the back seat, Vincent noticed that Arrie made sure to sit as far away from him as possible. Guilt settled heavily in his chest as they drove to the nearest hotel.

"Arrie, dear, we only booked two rooms. I hope you don't mind sharing with Vincent. It's only for a couple of hours." Said Ginny, from the front seat. Vincent glanced over at her. Neither had spoken since he had been so harsh to her outside the ER.

"Yeah, that's fine." She said in a thick voice before returning to staring back out the window and pretending she hadn't been looking at him. Within moments they pulled into the parking lot and headed through the dimly lit lobby. Kitchen staff had already begun setting up the complimentary continental breakfast.

It was a silent party indeed that ascended the elevators to their rooms. Once there, Arrie changed and washed her face before going back into the bedroom. Vincent was stretched across the bed staring at the dimly lit ceiling. Flicking off the lamp and making sure the curtain was pulled closed, she slipped into her own bed, back to him and pulled the covers up to her chin.

"Vincent?" he heard her whisper.

"What?" He snapped. He was in no mood to discuss anything with her right now.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. His only response was a grunt of acceptance.

Both were soon asleep utterly exhausted.

Arrie woke by eight the next morning to the sound of the shower running. She rolled over in confusion, blinking at the strange room, before the previous day's horror came back to her. Today would be a long day. A miserable cloud of gray rain fell on the town. The coroner had picked up the body of Carson Thorn the night before so it was to be straight to the funeral home after they stopped at the hospital to pick up Natalie. Arrie had to take an extra pair of clothing for the woman because her previous clothes were ripped and stained in blood. She cut a very somber figure in the borrowed clothes, with no makeup, baggy, bloodshot eyes and messy hair, a stark contrast to the runway model she had been the day before.

"Let's just get this over with," she stated as the five of them crammed into the Mercedes. Arrie felt awkward shoved between the two. She felt like she was intruding on their personal grief, surrounded by stiff bodies and thick silence. Also her right hand hurt terribly from where she had punched the orderly the night before, but that, despite the anger of Vincent and the pain, was worth it.

At the funeral home Arrie stayed outside with Ginny, while Percy, Vincent and Mrs. Thorn discussed the arrangements. Occasionally the sound of angry voiced could be heard from behind the closed door. She and Ginny looked at pictures of flower's while they waited, each pretending not to hear the angered tones.

After an hour they emerged from the office, Vincent wearing a stony expression and Mrs. Thorn dabbing at her eyes repeatedly with a tissue. The visitation would take place the following afternoon with the service afterward. The obituary was faxed to the newspaper. Next they headed for a florist to pick out the funeral pieces. Mrs. Thorn spent most of her time on the phone texting or calling everyone on her contacts list that she hadn't gotten to before now to inform them of the families tragedy.

However, when it came time for the family to fill out cards, Mrs. Thorn fell apart completely and sobbed uncontrollably. Vincent didn't say much at all, and he didn't once shed a single tear. Arrie helped pick out most of the flowers, in an effort to make up for angering him the night before. She, Percy and Ginny ordered their own piece as well. Next they had to go to the mall and get clothes to wear for the services. None of them had anything appropriate to wear, not to mention Mrs. Thorn, was currently having to wear Arries clothes. When Arrie tried to pay for her own dress, Vincent stopped her.

"No, I'm paying for all of it. It's the least I can do." He told her, handing her the dress bag and box with her shoes. Arrie wanted to argue that she hadn't been involved hardly at all, but then thought better of it, not wishing to anger him again. They returned to the hotel and ordered Chinese takeout. Everyone was utterly drained. While Vincent was locked in the bathroom to shower, a quiet knock came on their door. Arrie answered it to find Mrs. Thorn standing in the hall.

"Oh, Sorry, I thought this was Vincent's room," She said, surprise in her voice.

"No it is. Would you like me to get him?" Arrie asked, stopping her.

"No, no. Actually I had hoped to talk to you anyway. And I needed to return your clothes." Arrie opened the door wider to allow the older woman into the room. They sat on the edge of the bed together. Mrs. Thorn sat straight backed and proud, her expression guarded.

"I don't really know what you are to my son, and I don't really care, but I do know that you are important to him and you have somehow kept him, I don't know, calm I suppose. Grounded." She said.

"What do you mean?" Arrie asked.

"I honestly expected him to be much more angry with me today than what he was. I think that somehow whenever you're around, he keeps himself more reserved." Mrs. Thorn explained.

"And for that I am very thankful. It's been very hard for me today." She went on. Arrie just nodded.

"He was right, that day. I haven't been the mother I should have been. I'm sorry for that now. I never realized what a good man he turned out to be, considering his past. It was always easier to give him whatever he wanted, rather than give him what he needed." Mrs. Thorn sighed.

"He is a good man." Arrie stated, trying to keep an accusatory tone out of her voice.

"He is. I'm proud of him. I just wish he could believe me when I say it. Honestly, I don't think I would have been able to handle today without him there. " Mrs. Thorn said.

"I'm sure he knows." Arrie told her consolingly. The woman shook her head sadly.

"He's grown up considerably from the little boy he used to be. I just hate that such a terrible thing has had to make me realize it. I've been an absolute fool. Selfish and materialistic, just like he said, but I plan to be better than that in the future. For Carson's sake." She said, dabbing at her eyes now. Arrie didn't know what to say to that. Mrs. Thorn reached out and gripped her hand tightly with her good arm.

"Mrs. Thorn, I-" Arrie tried to say, but the older woman cut her off and shook her head.

"Just keep taking care of him. You can be what I never was for him. Someone he can actually depend on now. It's too late for me to go back and change what I have said and done. We both know it."

"Mrs. Thorn, it may not be my place to say, but I don't think I can ever be to him, what you think I am. I can't take that place."

"You already have." Arrie looked up, startled.

"I want you to tell him though, from me. Make sure he knows I'm proud of him. I know he won't believe me now, when I say I am sorry." Mrs. Thorn pleaded, gripping Arrie's hand tightly.

"I will." Arrie promised the grieving woman. Mrs. Thorn nodded, more to herself than to Arrie.

"I'll see you in the morning. I'm very tired and I have to go take my medicine." She said, standing to leave.

"Goodnight," Arrie said softly as Mrs. Thorn saw herself out. Arrie didn't quite know how she felt about the woman after that. She was indeed a shallow woman, but she was still hurt and lost by all of this, just like everyone else.

A moment later Vincent emerged from the bathroom, hair damp and messy, dressed in pajamas. Arrie turned away from him and pulled back the blankets to climb between the sheets. She switched off the lamp and rolled onto her side watching him. He stood next to her bed for a moment, staring into space before sinking onto the bed next to her shoulders slumped.

"I want to apologize to you," he said quietly.

"For what? You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for." She told him fiercely, placing her hand on his shoulder before she could stop herself.

"I know I've not been myself, and I've probably not been as good to you as you have been to me," he started but Arrie cut him off.

"Not another word. This is not your fault. You have nothing to be sorry for. You have been nothing but strong today. It's a lot to bear, what you're dealing with. Don't ever think that you haven't done the right thing," she told him fiercely. She felt him take in a shaky breath as he hung his head.

"Thank you," he said softly. Arrie scooted up beside him and wrapped her arms around him. He buried his head in her shoulder. She could feel the tears, now flowing, soaking into her shirt.

"Shhh. It's okay," she whispered, stroking his hair as he sobbed.

"I just don't want to be alone," he said in a choked voice. Arrie felt her chest constrict from the pain as her eyes welled up with their own tears.

"I'm right here. You can stay right here with me." She said softly. She felt his arms wrap around her, and grip her tightly.

"You need sleep." She said softly. He nodded in agreement and after a moment he released his hold on her. Arrie scooted back to the center of the bed. Her hand gripping his, she pulled him next to her. He leaned back against the pillows as she curled up next to him, hands intertwined. She laid her head against his chest and pulled the blankets up around them. His free arm wrapped around her again. She wouldn't leave him to be alone in the darkness.

Arrie woke the next morning dread filling her stomach. Vincent was still asleep beside her, arms keeping her pulled close to him. He looked peaceful, the smooth side of his face blank in contrast to the mottled skin of his other side. She hated to wake him, especially for such an awful day that she knew they must all endure. She reached up and gently ran her fingers over the scar and through his hair. He shifted slightly and began to stir as her fingers lingered on his scar. Arrie sighed heavily.

"Vincent, I'm so sorry, but you have to get up now." She whispered. He groaned sleepily and brought his hand up to rub his eyes. After a moment he opened them blearily and looked down at her. They stared at one another a moment blue eyes meeting hazel. He brought his hand up to rest on hers, next to the scarred side of his face. His eyes shut for a moment, pressing her fingers to the skin. Then exhaling heavily he removed her hand and threw back the sheets.

"You can have first shower," he told her as he stood and stretched reaching for his cane. Arrie nodded and silently headed for the bathroom, clothes and toiletry bag in hand. She showered and then dressed in the black and grey, knee length dress, then pulled on hose and shoes. Fully dressed, she emerged from the bathroom to find Vincent sitting in a chair, hunched forward, head bowed and hair hiding his face. Arrie felt her stomach tighten at the forlorn figure he presented. Without looking at her he picked up his own clothes and headed for the bathroom. While he showered Arrie quickly brushed her teeth and scrunched her hair with mousse to keep some of the frizz out of it and applied makeup. Then she quickly repacked their bags and waited as Vincent finished getting dressed in his black suit. They left the room and knocked on Percy and Ginny and Mrs. Thorns door.

Each appeared, fully dressed and ready to go. Arrie helped load everyone but Mrs. Thorn's things in the car. She was intending to stay another night at the hotel and then her sister was planning to take her back home. She would not be returning to the manor with them.

They arrived at the funeral home thirty minutes prior to the visitation. The broken Vincent from the night before had disappeared and in his place stood, a cold and distant man Arrie vaguely recognized.

The smell of roses, carnations and lilies assaulted her senses as Arrie entered the room where the body of Carson Thorn was laid out to be viewed. His naturally tanned skin was pale in death. The black suit he wore was crisp and fresh. Arrie had seen many dead bodies in funeral home before now, but she had never noticed how they seemed to only be a replica, lying there in the coffin, compared to how they had been in life. She supposed it might have had to do with the fact that she had seen him alive and well only forty-eight hours prior. Mrs. Thorn stood by silently weeping as Vincent inspected the body. He never spoke a word.

Within the next ten minutes many people began filing in. Personal friends, business associates and distant relative's stopped to express their condolences. She watched Vincent carefully from behind one of the many spray's on stands. Most people tried not to gawk at his scar as they shook his hand. Over the next hour nearly two hundred people had shown up.

Arrie felt her stomach twist when she noticed a very familiar blonde walk through the door. Afton Sterling definitely knew how to make an entrance, Arrie thought bitterly, as the woman approached Vincent and then swooped down to kiss him on the unmarred side of his cheek. She wore a short black dress, exposing her long, toned, tanned legs. They were only enhanced by the fact that she was wearing six inch stillettos. Vincent, she noticed looked utterly shocked that the woman was here.

"Um, Arrie I'd like you to meet Afton," Vincent said, a noticeable blush creeping up his neck.

"Oh how nice. Yes, Natalie has told me all about how you've been hired on as like some sort of extra help." Said Afton, looking down her nose at Arrie.

Arrie felt herself blush.

"Yes, It's nice to meet you, but if you will excuse me I have to go do something," Said Arrie pointedly. As they began talking she disappeared out of the room, down the hall and to the bathroom. Afton, it appeared had a gift for making people feel incredibly stupid, poor and out ranked.

Arrie didn't think she could handle watching this bimbo fawn all over Vincent. She felt an intense dislike for her that caused her stomach to roil. Everything from her bottle blonde hair, to her spray- on tan made Arrie want to just throw up. She sat in the bathroom on the couch until Ginny poked her head in looking for her.

"Come on, dear. The service is about to start." Arrie got up slowly from the couch, dread weighing her down. She aloud Ginny to steer her out of the bathroom and down to the chapel where they took seats directly behind Mrs. Thorn, Vincent and to Arrianna's utter disgust, Afton.

The service was short and simple. The minister read scripture and then talked about how wonderful Carson Thorn's life had been, how he donated to the church, was a loving husband and father and how he had left this world to soon and would be sorely missed. She saw Vincent bring his hand to his cheek and wipe away tears. Afton then reached over and took his hand. Arrie felt like her heart might burst out of her chest at the sight. Nausea swept through her stomach and a single tear of her own fell as she saw Vincent grip Afton's hand tightly.

Arrie spent the rest of the service staring at the carpet, shame consuming her for letting something like this bother her. She had made a deal with herself, and now here she was allowing her feelings to get hurt. She was being selfish. She was his friend. Nothing more. She was there when he needed her. Another tear fell. It wasn't right to feel this way at a funeral. Sorrow for someone else was acceptable, not for herself.

The service ended. Arrie filed out behind Ginny and Percy. She stood by the door waiting on everyone. Afton shot her a smug look as she kissed Vincent goodbye on the cheek. After everyone had left, Vincent told his mother goodbye and dropped into the backseat of the Mercedes next to Arrie. There would be no graveside service, as Mr. Thorn would be cremated. A memorial would be placed on the grounds of Thornwall Manor.

Percy pointed the car towards home. They had only been gone three days, but it felt like a life time to Arrianna. No one spoke on the ride home. Vincent appeared to be sleeping. Arrie stared out the rain streaked windows. After nearly two hours they arrived home. Vincent headed straight for his tower and Arrie for her room. The kitten greeted her in the hall. Arrie raised her eyebrows in confusion. She was sure she had shut the door securely so that Luna couldn't roam free. She made her way to her room and pushed open the cracked door to reveal an absolute mess. The bed had been stripped, all of the drawers left open. A single sheet of notebook paper was lying on her pillow next to her book. She picked it up with trembling fingers.

_I'm watching you_

Arrie felt her blood run cold.

Danny.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Hidden Stitches

Arrianna sank onto the bed, hands trembling, staring at the crudely scratched note. Why? Why couldn't Danny just leave her alone? She didn't want or need anything from him. He should be happy to no longer have a responsibility. Not that he had ever really worried about that before anyway. Tears welled up in her eyes, a kneejerk reaction after the last three days she'd had. She furiously wiped away the tears and then crushing the note into a ball, stood quickly.

I don't care, she thought. He couldn't hurt her anymore anyway. She crossed to her window that had been left open by about an inch. It was obvious he had slipped in this way. She forced it the rest of the way shut and then made sure the locks slid into their slots securely before yanking the heavy drapes over them. She then turned to face the mess that was her room. She stuffed the clothes back into their drawers haphazardly and picked up the small collection of books she had off the floor. Her photo frame lay face down on the thick rug. Thankfully the glass had only cracked and not shattered. Sighing heavily she placed it back on the burrow. Then she attempted to make the bed while Luna attacked the sheets. Once that was finished she looked around critically.

After a moment, Arrianna realized that something important was missing. She checked under the dresser, the bed and around the window. Her photo was missing. Finally spotting it on the edge of the hearth she knelt to retrieve it. Her one and only photo of Vincent. She stared at it for a moment, sadness tugging at the strings of her heart. She had been so close, and then her world had been shattered by the tattered edge that had been where Afton stood.

Arrie took the photo and slipped it into her nightstand drawer before rebuilding the fire.

For at least a week, Arrianna was edgy. She kept her windows closed and the drapes drawn, as if barring them against something much worse than the bitter cold that threatened to consume her. Vincent was keeping his distance. He stayed locked in his tower unless it was time for a meal. The comfortable and easy friendship they had grown before Carson Thorn's death had disappeared. He was as cold and unreachable as when she had first met him.

At first she had stayed in the sitting room and read in the evenings in hopes that Vincent would come down from his tower. He never did. Eventually she would turn out the lights and return to her room alone, disappointment weighing heavily on her heart. At one point she had argued with herself about going up there and forcing him out, but she could never work up the nerve. Besides, he had made it obvious he didn't want to spend time with her. He had made his choice. Why would he even consider her, when he could have Afton?

Arrie had hoped that Vincent would know that he could thoroughly rely on her. That she could be more than just a servant. That she could be there for him, and for the right reasons, not because she was a gold digging bimbo. After all, she had been the one who had been there for Vincent through all of his pain and torment. She wasn't shallow enough to leave him because he had fallen into a dark place and had been scarred. It made her sick every time she thought of how Afton was trying to worm her way back into his good graces. And she knew the reason. Afton didn't love or care about Vincent. She only wanted his money. Arrie had seen the look of disgust on Afton's face whenever her eyes glanced at the scars. Complete revulsion, ill disguised.

Arrianna had to battle daily a storm of emotions that whirled inside of her. She was furious with Vincent that he would shut her out like this. That he would prefer Afton to her. Then the anger would be replaced with guilt at her own selfish thoughts. Every day was a test for her when she knocked on the door to his tower to deliver his meals. He wouldn't look at her let alone speak. He wasn't really doing much of anything that she could tell. He sat in his chair, in the shadows, lurking. If she tried to talk to him he would either ignore her or give her one word answers.

Arrianna was even more furious with herself. She constantly berated herself whenever she left feeling hurt or angered. She had known better. This was what she deserved. This was why she had drawn the line to begin with. To keep from feeling things that should not be felt. She felt as if she were an old rag doll, slowly being unraveled and the string responsible was clutched in Vincent's hands. Eventually she wondered if it would just be easier to be indifferent. She wondered if she could take a pair of scissors and cut the offending string so that maybe she could stop unraveling. It would save her a lot of heartache at least. After all, this was just a job.

She wished it were easier than how she pretended it would be. To remove her emotions even her memories, and like the stolen photo, just put them in a drawer and not think about them. She had known this would happen, and she had done nothing to try to stop herself. She had allowed her feelings to get the better of her and now she was paying the price. You deserve this, she would tell herself.

The rest of January was terrible. It snowed constantly. When she wasn't trapped in the house she would go for walks on the grounds. Anything to be out of the house, to be away from the tower. Away from him and the incessant yank of the string that was attached to her.

She would disappear for an hour or so. She reveled in being alone. Then she could chance a moment to open the hidden inner wounds that she was carrying around. Only then could she open that forbidden drawer and look. Only then would she allow herself to feel. She had explored much of the grounds by now and had found an abandoned, dead rose garden. She loved it. It was like her. It was alone, unloved, and unwanted. She could sit on the stone wall for hours, allowing the cold to seep through her clothes, to her bones, to her very heart. It was perfect to numb her. Then she could return to the house, stitched back together somewhat. It would be enough to deaden her until the next day.

When February arrived she felt shriveled, drained and empty, like the dead trees of winter. She wondered vaguely if she was depressed. She and Vincent hadn't had a proper conversation that had lasted more than five minutes since his father had passed away. When they did speak, she found that she snapped at him usually and then he would tell her to get out. It was unhealthy, she had tried to tell herself. To be so obsessed by someone who obviously didn't care about her. It was wrong and dangerous. Unnatural, even.

She knew Percy and Ginny were worried about her. They would ask her every day if she was alright. She would force a smile and tell them yes, she was fine. They all knew it was a lie, but no one, not even she, knew how to fix it anyway.

"This has to stop," Said Ginny one morning slamming down a pot on the stove as Arrie sat at the kitchen table. Arrie jumped at the sound of the loud noise.

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"You have been moping for a month. I don't know for sure what your problem is, but I think I have a pretty good guess." Ginny said emphatically, hands on hips. Arrie tried to look nonchalant.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Arrie said.

"Don't give me that. You know exactly what I am talking about. The two of you have hardly spoken in a month." Ginny stated.

"So? If he doesn't want to talk to me, I'm not going to make him." Arrie snapped.

"He needs someone to talk to." Ginny told her.

"Just because you think he needs to, doesn't mean he's going to. And definitely not with me," Arrie argued.

"What? Why not?" Ginny asked in confusion.

"He has other people to talk to." Arrie said irritably.

A dawning of comprehension came to Ginny's eyes.

"You are worried about her, aren't you?"

Arrianna squirmed in her seat, uncomfortable with talking about this. It was her private world, no one else's. She didn't want anyone else here in this world with her.

"You should tell him how you feel." Ginny said.

"I don't feel anything," Arrie retorted, glaring at the table.

"That's exactly my point."Arrie looked up at her shocked.

"It won't make a difference." She snorted.

"You never know. I haven't seen him as happy as he was when you two were talking before." Ginny told her.

"He made his choice. If he doesn't want to come down, I'm not going to make him." Arrie knew she sounded like a bitter child but she couldn't help it.

"But he needs you. Now more than ever I think." Ginny told her.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." Arrie said cutting her off. She glared at Ginny.

"You shouldn't give up so easily," Ginny said in a soft voice.

"Whatever. I'll go talk to him, but I don't guarantee any results." Arrie said. She slid back her chair noisily and stormed out of the room.

Arrie allowed her anger to propel her towards the tower. She paused for only a moment to bang on the door before entering. She felt wild and out of control. Ginny had touched a nerve and now she didn't fully know if she would be able to stop herself before something disastrous happened.

Vincent was obviously just waking up. He wasn't even out of the bed yet. He looked at her in confusion.

"What?" he asked, irritated.

She didn't answer. She just went straight to the curtains flung them open and then began rebuilding the fire in the grate.

"What is wrong with you this morning?" he asked.

"Nothing," Arrie knew he could see straight through that one. The oldest ,'I'm not mad' sarcasm in the book. She tried to get her emotions under control and failed miserably.

"Oh yeah, okay, like I am going to believe that in the next ten years. I'm ugly, not stupid." Vincent said as he reached for his cane.

Arrianna whirled around.

"You are not ugly," she said vehemently. He stopped and looked up at her. Arrie felt herself blush.

"You," he said after a moment, "Are bizarre."

Arrie sighed heavily. Damn it, she thought to herself. Guilt settled in to replace the anger.

"No, I'm sorry." She said after a moment.

"For what?" he asked, confusion written all over his face. Arrie didn't answer. She reached up and nervously began twirling her hair around her index finger. She didn't really know where to begin. How was she supposed to fix something that wasn't even a reality?

"You know what, never mind." He said after a second of watching her nervous behavior.

"I'm just worried about you. You haven't had anything to say in quite a while." Arrie blurted out. What a stupid thing to say, she thought after she had spoken. Of course he wouldn't be alright. When he didn't answer immediately, she felt compelled to keep talking. Vincent raised his one whole eyebrow curiously.

"I'm not the only one. Percy and Ginny are worried too. You have hardly spoken to any of us."

He sighed heavily.

"It's not been a cake walk, no." he told her.

"I'm sorry." She said again. He just nodded as he began searching his closet for clean clothes.

Arrie figured if she had already put her foot in it, she might as well try to glean some information, even if it wasn't what she wanted to hear. Maybe it would finally stamp out all of this nonsense.

"Have you not been talking to me because of that blonde girl?" she asked quietly.

Vincent snorted in derision as he walked back out of the closet.

"Seriously? Afton? You think she is capable of thinking of someone besides herself?" he asked.

"I mean I get it. You guys must go way back or something." Arrie said.

"No I haven't spoken to her since the funeral. And I don't care to either. I haven't talked to anyone really."

"Oh. Okay. I thought you guys might have been close from the way she was acting." Arrie said, trying to keep the relief out of her voice.

"Trust me, I wouldn't deal with her again if you paid me too. I could get more sympathy from your stupid cat. Speaking of which, has been in here and was stuck in my curtains again last night. " He said.

"Oh, sorry she does that." Arrie tried to keep the enthusiasm out of her voice at this bit of news. This was not why she was here.

They sat there for a moment, neither speaking. She continued to twirl her hair nervously. Arrie felt strange. She had closed everything off for quite a while in an attempt to reign in her emotions. No feelings. And now standing here, looking at him it was like a flood gate had opened and she had no way to prevent the torrent of emotions she was now feeling.

"Well if you want to talk about it, I'll listen." She said after another awkward moment had passed.

"It's just been, I don't know. Different. It's hard to realize that he is gone. I mean, he avoided me before this, but I always knew he was still here. And now, that prolonged silence is going to be, I don't know, infinite, I suppose." Vincent said after another moment of silence. Arrie watched him sadly.

"I'm sorry." She said. He looked up at her.

"It's not your fault. You keep saying that like it is."

"No, I shouldn't have barged in here like this." Arrie explained.

"Honestly, I'm used to it. You do it every day." He told her.

"Heh, yeah, I guess I do." she said hesitantly.

"Do you want me to bring your breakfast?" she asked.

"No, I think I'm going to come down today. I'm tired of being cooped up in here." He said.

"Are you sure?" Arrie asked in disbelief.

"I should be down in a few minutes."

"Alright. Breakfast should be ready by then." Arrie said, trying to sound as indifferent as possible. Out in the hall she let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Every nerve felt as if it was tingling and on fire. She had tried to suppress her emotions for so long now that she felt not quite in control of herself.

She had to repress the urge to jump up and down. She had made herself look like a fool enough as it was and this absolutely did not mean anything anyway. She hurried to the kitchen and pushed it open.

"He's decided to come down for breakfast." She told Ginny trying to keep her face neutral.

"I told you." Ginny said.

"What?" Arrie asked in confusion.

"You told him how you feel right?"

"WHAT? No, of course not. I told him that we were worried about him. Why would I tell him that? I mean I don't." Arrie said quickly.

Ginny laughed and Percy hid behind his paper.

"If you say so. I won't tell him." Ginny said.

"There's nothing to tell him." Arrie tried to argue. Ginny smiled. Arrie sat down at the table and pulled out her book, intent on ignoring the meddlesome old woman. She had been successful. Vincent was finally leaving the tower. That's all she had wanted really. Well, not all she had wanted, the little voice in the back of her head seemed to say.

A few moments later Vincent came in. Percy set down the paper and Ginny turned from the stove to watch him as he sank into a chair next to Arrie. She didn't look up from her book, however she was acutely aware of the fact that the chair next to hers had slid out and was now occupied by the object of her obsession.

"It's good to finally see you out and about, Vincent." Percy said after a moment. Arrie snuck a look up then.

"Yes," Vincent replied.

"You should go out more often. It's not good to stay cooped up in the drafty tower. " Ginny told him.

"I guess,"

"Perhaps you could start taking walks in the afternoons." Percy suggested. Arrie looked up from her book to see his reaction with mild curiosity. He only shrugged when Ginny placed a plate of eggs and toast in front of him.

"It would probably be good for you." Ginny agreed. Arrie saw him shrug in indifference.

"Arrianna goes out on walks in the afternoons. Perhaps you could go with her at first." Ginny suggested innocently.

Arrianna knocked over her glass of juice. The blush from earlier that was finally starting to dissipate came flaming back.

"I don't need a baby sitter," Vincent growled. Arrie's embarrassment turned to anger.

"Well I never agreed to be yours, now did I?" She asked in irritation, reaching to sop up the mess with her napkin. She noticed Percy had hidden behind his paper again.

"Well I didn't ask for you to go with me in the first place. Besides, why would I want to go with you? You only ever go to that stupid dead rose garden." Vincent said angrily. Arrianna's mouth fell open in horror.

"Have you been spying on me?"

"No, of course not. It's not my fault you walk by my tower every day."

"Oh. Well it's none of your business where I go." Arrie said.

"Oh, really? I believe you were the one inquiring into my personal life a few moments ago. Quite a double standard, if you ask me. And I wasn't asking. I never said I wanted to know where you go." He said. Arrie ignored him as she threw away the sodden napkin. Anger boiled inside of her. Just like that and a switch had been flipped. All of her pent up emotions were now on a collision course.

"You can do whatever suites you. I really don't care." Arrie told him, trying to act indifferent. She turned back to her book in an effort to ignore him.

"Fine."

"Fine what?" she asked irritated.

"I'll do whatever I want."

"Fine. You're an adult." She retorted. She heard him splutter angrily.

"You are impossible." He said accusingly. Arrianna looked up from her book and met his angry expression. She then stood abruptly, slamming the book on the table.

"I don't have to deal with this." She stated heading for the back door.

"What? Where are you going?"

"My stupid dead rose garden!" she shouted before slamming the door. She didn't look back at him as she headed out into the frigid morning.

She marched ahead on the now familiar path to the rose garden, anger propelling her. You see, she scolded herself. This is what you get when you are stupid. This isn't one of your books. Her breath puffed out in front of her in the chilly morning air and the frozen grass crunched under her boots.

Arrianna didn't stop until she reached her spot on the stone wall and sank onto it, her knees finally buckling. Once there, she allowed the hot tears to leak from her eyes and slide down her face. This wasn't working. She was going insane. She was allowing nothing to set her emotions into a reckless free fall. Swiping at her tears angrily she watched a bright red cardinal on a nearby branch. It turned its head and eyed her curiously and after a moment it flew off. She shivered, realizing to late that she had forgotten her coat.

"Arrie," she jumped at the sound of her name and spun around to see Vincent limping towards her.

"What do you want?" she asked stiffly, turning her back on him.

"I want to apologize." He said, panting.

"Go on," she said after a moment. She noticed the glower he sent her way from the corner of her eye.

"This is hard for me, alright? I don't usually apologize. But I'm trying to now. The least you could do is give me a chance." He told her angrily. Arrie felt herself shrivel a little bit. She turned to face him finally, trying to keep her expression neutral.

"I don't do emotions and feelings or whatever this crap is. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or whatever the reason is for you being mad at me." Arrie continued to watch him. He looked at the ground mostly but would occasionally peak up at her.

"Why?" she asked him. He looked up at her in confusion.

"Why do you care that I am mad at you?" she asked, elaborating.

"Because. I don't know. I just don't like it when you're mad at me." He told her after a moment. Arrie raised an eyebrow at him.

"I mean, you are the closest thing I have to a friend. I don't want to hurt you. That's the last thing I want to do, but here lately, it seems that is the only thing I can do. And it's not fair. I've got enough crap to think about without worrying if your mad at me too." He sat down next to her on the frozen wall of stone.

"It's been hard for me. I know you have only been trying to help." He told her after a second. " And I appreciate it. But you need to understand that it's hard for me to let someone in. It feels like every time I do, something bad happens."

"Vincent, you do realize that we wouldn't let anything bad happen to you right? I mean you keep acting like we are all going to run off and leave you alone. And quite honestly it's idiotic. You should know by now, Percy and Ginny wouldn't ever leave you. And neither would I." Arrie told him.

"You don't really have anywhere else to go though, do you?" He tried to argue. Arrie frowned at him.

"Even if I did, I wouldn't. You forget a friendship is supposed to work both ways. I care about what happens to you too." She told him. He gave her a disbelieving look.

"I don't get why." He said. Arrie sighed in exasperation.

"Because, you pigheaded brat. I am your friend, and quite honestly there isn't a damn thing you can do about it." She snapped.

"So you keep saying. One day I guess you will figure out I am a monster." He said with a humorless laugh. Arrie slapped his arm.

"You are an idiot." She told him.

"What? I am a monster."

"No you are not. Do you honestly think I would be that shallow?" she asked him angrily.

"So you honestly don't care about how I look?"

"No, of course not. I've told you that. Why won't you believe me?"

"Well it seems to matter to everyone else." He told her.

"Yes, because I am just like everyone else. Stop being so stubborn. Look at me." She demanded, reaching and pulling his chin up to face her. He finally glanced up and met her eyes.

"Vincent, I am your friend. I do not care about your stupid scars. They have nothing to do with who you are and how I feel about you. It's your choices that make you who you are. And I've seen someone who has been kind to me. Who has helped me, when I literally had no one else." She told him. She let go of his chin but he continued to watch her.

"When my mother died, I had no one. I understand that pain, but you, unlike me, have people here with you. Don't push it away because you are stubborn. You don't have to deal with this on your own." Reaching down she grabbed his cold hand and laced her fingers through his. She could feel tremors go through his body, whether from the cold or something else she didn't know.

"Come on. Let's go back inside." She said after a moment of silence. Getting up she tugged his hand along with her. He stood stiffly.

"So you forgive me?" he asked her as they began to walk back towards the house. She gripped his hand tightly in assurance.

"Always."

**First off I want to thank all of you, my amazing reviewers. You have been a huge inspiration to me and I appreciate every single one of you. Don't worry, I do intend to keep on with this story and I am sorry it took me so long to update. I've had a hectic past couple of weeks. My brother managed to slice his finger open on a skill saw, my husband's crap car has broken down and we are trying to figure out what to do with that and between school and work, I've been a little scattered. Thank you so much for sticking with me on this. I am humbled to think you guys are so excited about my story. Please don't give up on me now. =) **

**Also. Totally unrelated. You guys should totally check out a new show on the CW called. Beauty and the Beast. The Beast character's name is Vincent also. I was so excited. And I do hope everyone is keeping up with the show Once Upon a Time on ABC. Huge recommendations from me. **

**Don't forget to Review! **

**-Muse**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Shattered

Vincent allowed Arrianna to pull him along, back down the garden path. It was ironic really. He had followed her in an attempt to make her feel better and yet she was the one comforting him. Again. He smiled to himself when she would unconsciously squeeze his hand in hers. The foreign contact was beginning to feel most welcome. At one time he would not have given a second thought to anyone else's feelings but his own. He had spoken the truth to her though. He couldn't stand to see her mad or upset with him now.

In the last month he had been locked in the tower in the dark wrestling with his own thoughts. The loss of his father was something that he didn't know if he could come to terms with. Some days he was angry and others he was hurt. And always guilty. It plagued him to think of the things he had said before. The things that he would never be able to take back now. It made him feel weaker now, than when he had first began to recover from his attack.

Arrianna seemed to help with distancing the pain. Whenever he was around her it was almost as if she was a buffer and made the pain lessen. However, Vincent decided that this would be his penance. To suffer alone. So he had pushed her away. He watched every day as the circles under her eyes grew darker. She had snapped at him more often and seemed to stay angry. He added this to his unending list of things to feel bad for. It wasn't her fault. He wondered how she could be so easy to forgive.

Soon they reached the house. She dropped his hand and he couldn't help but feel a sense of loss at it. Maybe she was right. Maybe he should be willing to let someone in and not suffer alone. They entered through the front door to find Percy putting on his coat.

"Good, there you two are. I'm running into town to pick a couple of things up. Do either of you need anything?" he asked. Vincent shook his head.

"Luna needs cat food if you don't mind," Arrie said. Vincent snorted while Percy nodded.

"What?" she asked, turning on him, a single eye brow raised.

"That thing is getting huge, you need to quit feeding her so much. I thought she was going to pull the curtains down last night, rod and all." He told her. Percy nodded to them both before disappearing out the front door.

"Luna is not getting fat. She's growing. She is supposed to get bigger." Arrie argued.

"If you say so." Vincent replied heading off towards the tower, leaning on his cane.

"Do you want me to bring you lunch in your room in a bit?" She called after him.

"If you want, I guess. Will you bring coffee if you do though? Throat's getting sore." He said, turning to look back down at her. She smiled and nodded at him before slipping into the kitchen.

He continued on to the tower, not really sure what to do with himself. He didn't really want to continue to just sit there and think. He had had enough of that. He felt lighter than he had in a month, and didn't want to spoil the good feeling.

He decided to make his own bed in an effort to help Arrie. This was a first for him. He never usually took initiative to help do anything. The task was made difficult by the fact that the kitten had gotten back into his room and was attempting to play hide and seek with the covers. At first it was exasperating and then it started to get funny. Every time an air bubble settled Vincent would fluff the sheet again and the kitten would pounce anew. Perhaps the little fur ball wasn't all that bad. She was very clumsy and constantly misjudged a distance. At one point she leapt to pounce an air bubble near the edge of the bed and missed, falling off completely.

Finally tiring of the game he finished making the bed clumsily and then settled into his arm chair and pulled his laptop to him. Once it had hummed to life he logged onto his email. Checking the inbox, he saw an email from his mother. She had taken to once a week emailing him to check up on him since his father's death. He clicked it and then began to read.

She didn't really have anything much to say, but then again, Vincent figured this was a step up from not contacting him at all. He could tell she was depressed. Natalie was a selfish woman, and a terrible mother, but Vincent couldn't deny that she hadn't ever loved his father. If she had one redeeming quality, it was this. He replied to her and let her know he was fine, as was the house and Percy, Ginny and Arrie. She had taken an odd interest in Arrie that confused Vincent. She would constantly question him about her.

Vincent had just finished browsing his inbox when an icon popped up on the screen for a live video chat. He stared at the sender incredulously before clicking to open it, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Vincent, sweetie, how are you?" Afton's primped and polished visage suddenly appeared on his screen. He noticed her flinch when she saw him.

"Fine. This is unexpected." he said, eyeing her warily.

"Oh, I'm just checking up on you. I haven't heard from you in a few weeks." Vincent laughed.

"I wasn't aware we were in any type of relationship that constituted that. " He told her. Afton's glossed lips pointed down in a pout.

"Don't be like that. You know I still care about you." She told him.

"Is that so? Tell me, what do you care so much about?" He asked. Afton batted her eye lashes before answering.

"You know we always had a connection. I understand you Vincent, and you at one time understood me." She said in a low and sultry voice.

"No I'm pretty sure that 'Connection' you are thinking of was when your claws were cemented to my wallet." He said, leaning back and crossing his arms.

Afton continued to pout.

"It was never like that, Vincent." She whined.

"Oh, really? Please, by all means, do explain." He snorted.

"If I recall, I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one not keeping my hands where they should be." Afton sniffed in disdain. Vincent chuckled.

"You were easy. What can I say?"

"I thought you said you loved me."

"Maybe once upon a time. Not anymore." He told her.

"Are you sure? I still feel that way about you. I want us to be that way again." She continued.

"You have nothing that I want." He said.

"I don't believe that. I know you still like parts of me." She said in a low and sultry voice.

Vincent watched in shock as her hands slipped up to the top button of her blouse and she unhooked it. She really got to the point of things, he thought warily.

"Let me refresh your memory." She went on.

"Afton, knock it off." He said, trying to not stare.

"Tell me you don't want us to be together. I can see it on your face you want me to go on." She purred.

Vincent tried to school his features into a blank mask. This was not happening.

"Afton, stop. I do not love you anymore, and I do not ever want to be with you again. Do you understand?" He stared above the screen in an effort to stop watching her.

"Liar. I know you want this too." She whispered.

"No, let's get this straight. You care about my money. Now what do you really want? I won't ask again." he told her. Afton stopped undoing her buttons and fixed him with a pouty glare that made her bottom lip stick out even further.

"That's not fair, Vincent." She said. He continued to watch her and didn't say anything.

"It's been so long, and I miss you. Why won't you believe me?" She said with a sniff that wasn't at all believable.

"You're kidding, right?" Vincent asked.

"You need to come up with a more convincing lie." He watched her trying to figure out what game she was playing. His eye caught sight of the date and it all suddenly made sense. Valentine's Day. Of course. He grinned. She would be that shallow.

"Tell me, Afton. Are you alone right now? You're not seeing anyone else?" He asked. Afton grinned. She thought she had him.

"No. I haven't been seeing anyone. I told you, what we had is special. I want to fix it." She purred.

"So this has nothing to do with the fact that it's Valentine's day and you don't have a date?" He asked smugly. He watched satisfied as her mouth fell open in shock.

"No of course not." She snapped, her sickly sweet and not to mention fake demeanor had all but dropped now.

"You can't find a date for Valentine's Day can you? And you honestly think I would be desperate enough to ask you?" He asked in wonder, laughter evident in his voice. Anger flickered across Afton's face more pronounced than the first time.

"I am a Sterling. How dare you. I could have anyone I wanted. I just want to be with you. I want to work things out."

"Uh, huh. Well you can take that Sterling silver spoon and shove it up your ass." He told her, disdain coating his tone.

"Vincent! You're not being fair." She whined again.

"Yeah, well life isn't fair. I know that better than anyone now." He said in a scathing tone.

"Is this about that girl? What was her name again? Ashley? Annie?" Afton asked.

"Arrianna." Vincent said, irritably. This game was getting old. He was ready to close the screen.

"Whatever." Afton replied, looking down her nose and inspecting her nails.

"No, this is about me saying no to you. I don't like you and I damn sure don't want you."

"So it is about her. I figured as much." Afton said. Vincent continued to watch her image on the screen in morbid fascination.

"She is nothing, Vincent. She won't ever be able to offer you anything." Afton said finally looking up from inspecting her manicured nails.

"Who said I ever wanted anything from her? She is my maid. Not that it matters." Vincent snarled.

"Really? I think you're lying, Vincent." He frowned at her. A smirk was teasing up the corners of her mouth. Anger bubbled up inside of him.

"I'm not. She is just a maid. Helps around the house. She doesn't mean anything to me. I shouldn't have to justify anything to you." Vincent said.

An angry rattle of what sounded like dishes came from behind him. He turned to find Arrie standing at his desk a tray with what looked like his lunch in her hands. She dropped it haphazardly onto the surface. A mug fell from the tray to the floor where its lip chipped. She paused for a moment and looked from the cup up to him and their eyes met. Her blue eyes were like ice shards, cold and sharp.

"Well, Well. Look at that. I think she thought differently too." Came Afton's voice smugly. Vincent felt his stomach twist unpleasantly.

"Arrie, wait." He said.

Vincent watched in helplessness as Arrie turned on her heal and headed out the door, not looking back when he called her name again. He slammed the laptop shut on Afton's smirking face before hurrying after her. The last look he had seen of Afton, she had been smiling like the Cheshire cat who had a whole bowl of milk to itself. She had known Arrie was in the room, he realized. He felt like a complete and utter fool. He had allowed her to play him like the absolute moron he was.

Vincent all but ran to catch up with Arrianna. She was halfway down the stairs as he hurried after her.

"Please, wait. Let me explain!" he called.

"NO. I think you have explained quite enough. I'm done here. I'm not going to allow you to make a fool out of me." She shouted back at him, not bothering to turn around.

Vincent flinched at the anger in her voice but continued to follow her.

"Arrie!" Panic was starting to well up in his chest and the pounding of his heart made him ache. She had stopped to grab her coat out of the closet and was putting it on while simultaneously reaching for the front door.

How utterly stupid he had been, to allow Afton to get to him. He had seen the bait and he had risen to it. He had walked right into her trap, and now he was getting ready to pay for it.

"Arrianna, listen to me." He said again, desperation leaking into his voice. He reached out and grabbed her wrist. She tried to pull away.

"Let me go." She demanded.

"Not until you listen." He told her. She tried to pull her arm out of his grasp again. She winced.

"You're hurting me." She snapped. He released his grip, but realized too late it had been a ruse as she tried to push past him again. He tried to grab her again and then losing his balance brought them both tumbling to the floor. They struggled for a moment until he finally was able to pin her down with his own body.

"Dammit, Vincent! Get off me! I don't want to talk to you." She said. They continued to struggle in vain.

"Listen to me." He demanded again.

"Just leave me alone." She sobbed. He stopped trying to pin her down and pushed himself up on one elbow to look at her. He saw tears were indeed welling up in her eyes as she finally stopped struggling. They slipped slowly down her cheek. They stared at one another for a moment before she looked away from him.

"You lied to me." She whispered. Vincent hung his head in shame.

"No, I promise. I never meant to hurt you," he mumbled.

"I don't know what game you are playing, and I don't care. I am out. I'm done. I won't be a part of this anymore." She said after a moment in a shaky breath. He could feel her beneath him, breathing heavily.

"Arrianna, I didn't mean what I said." He told her after a moment, already knowing that she wouldn't believe him.

"Then why did you say it?" she asked. He saw another tear slip down. He watched its progress before answering, trying to think of a good excuse.

"I don't know." He said honestly.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" She snapped looking back at him. Vincent sighed heavily.

"I don't know. Afton is just, manipulative. She manages to turn everything around and make it someone else's fault." He said after another moment's deliberation. Arrie glared at him.

"Tell me the truth." She demanded.

"The truth is, I was trying not to play her game and I ended up falling for it anyway. It was her way of getting revenge for the fact that I won't give her unlimited access to my wallet." He said.

"NOT that. I want to hear from you, how you feel about me. I want the truth." They stared at one another. The shards of her blue eyes made him feel as if she could pierce his very soul. Vincent could see in her eyes how utterly shattered she was, broken. In truth he recognized the look she now wore as one that he often felt. Torn apart and wasted, useless to all.

"Arrianna, the truth is," he dropped his gaze as he spoke, unable to look at her and see her reaction. He took a deep breath before going on.

"The truth is you absolutely drive me insane. You make me crazy." He felt her tense up beneath him.

"Then why are you doing this?" she asked angrily.

"Because, you forced me to look at myself and see past the scars. I didn't think I could do it and I wondered how I managed to until I realized it was you. You were standing next to me, being as stubborn as an ass, always helping me to see past all of this. Not giving me a choice to give up." He told her, gesturing at himself.

He finally glanced back up at her to see her reaction nervously. He watched her face for some sign of forgiveness as his heart pounded against his rib cage. He hoped that it wouldn't shatter if she rejected him.

"And that's the truth?" She asked him softly, her blue eyes searching his face.

"Every word of it."

He flinched when her hand came up and gently touched the scars on his cheek. He closed his eyes again. Her touch, though gentle, made the scars feel as if they were on fire again, burning to his very soul. He brought his own hand up to cover hers.

"Why do you want me here?" she whispered.

"I don't." He brought his gaze to meet hers and saw the anger in her eyes rekindled.

"I don't want you. I need you." He told her tangling his hands in her fiery curls. He saw the anger melt away to a blank expression. The hand that she had been trailing across his scars slipped into his hair and before either of them could react she pulled him to her and pressed her lips firmly to his. For a second he was too shocked to realize what had happened. He thought he had been lit on fire again. Every inch of his skin felt like it was burning, melting. He then felt her cold hands slip to his scar again where it lingered, shocking him back to reality. He didn't pull away.

He untangled his hand and trailed it from her cheek and then slowly down her neck. She was soft, her skin whole and smooth. Everything he couldn't be she was. When she broke the kiss, the fire that had gripped him dulled down into a simmer. He could feel her draw in a ragged breath beneath him. He met her eyes with his own. They were bluer than any ocean he had ever seen and blazed with an intensity he didn't recognize. He allowed his head to fall and meet hers, their lips barely a breath apart.

"Vincent," she whispered his name.

"Hmm?" he acknowledged.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that."

"I think I can forgive it," he said. He felt her struggle beneath him and this time allowed her to push him off. They both got slowly to their feet.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again." She told him. He watched her in confusion as she turned pink. He stepped closer to her and before she could stop him he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, forcing her to press up against him, her hands splayed flat against his chest in protest. He placed his fingers under her chin and forced her to look up him and meet his eyes.

"You heard what I said didn't you?" She blinked slowly at him again and didn't answer. He lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers urgently, as if that would help convey to her the meaning of his words. He felt her tense up against him before finally melting into the kiss. He felt her hands slide up his chest and wrap slowly around his neck. He held her tightly. He could smell her cucumber melon soap, and moaned quietly wanting more of her. He held the kiss for a few seconds longer until his lungs screaming for air, finally forced him to release her lips. He rested his forehead against hers as their ragged breath mingled. He could feel her pulse racing beneath her skin.

"I mean it. I need you." He said quietly, in contrast to his own wildly beating heart.

"What do you want me to do?" She asked him just as softly.

"Stay with me."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO

Danny sighed in relief as he forced the needle deeper into his skin, allowing the drug to enter his blood stream. He leaned back against the old sagging couch, waiting for the with drawl symptoms to subside. Once his shaking limbs had calmed he looked around the tiny shack blinking in the half light. He had just returned from following his useless little runaway daughter. He had finally found where she was hiding. Living with a scarred freak in a fancy house less than five miles away. He had been watching her for almost a month now and had been devising a plan to get even for being locked up, not to mention the knot that had been on his head for almost a month. Just this morning he had seen the two of them together in an abandoned garden on the property. He could tell by watching her how she felt about him. She wore her feelings on her sleeve, plain as day. She was in love with the monster. 

He intended to exploit that. He may even get lucky and get a little extra money on the side. He didn't know exactly what he would do yet, but it had to be worthy of all of the trouble she had caused him. He would just bide his time, and see when an opportunity would arise for him to take action.

Danny drifted into a pleasing drug induced stupor, his last thought of her, left with nothing, just like him.

**There you guys go! Sorry I'm so late in updating. Midterms got in the way.**

**What do you all think of the first kiss? Too much? To little? I need info! Also I saw where some of you were asking about Danny and what he is up to, so I decided to give you a little peak at what he is up to. Did you like that? And isn't Afton a real skank? I'd be ever so appreciative if you guys got me to over fifty reviews. Let me know what you think! It keeps me writing. The more you review the more I write. =]**

**I'm hoping to have the next chapter out by Thanksgiving! **

**-Muse of the Pen**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN- I know, I know, it's the same chapter, but I did some heavy editing. I've left you guys a note explaining at the end why. Please don't kill me! Just read. I explain it all at the bottom. Enjoy my edits!**

Chapter 14

Falling

Arrie's world came to a grinding, screeching, halt as the sound of the front door opening reached her ears. She felt the blood rush to her face and her cheeks burned in mortified embarrassment. Dropping her arms from around Vincent, and stumbling slightly, she turned away from him to face Percy, who had just entered from outside. Glancing up, she saw that Percy was wide eyed with surprise. For a split second everyone glanced at one another in utter silence, trying to decide if they really wanted to talk about what had just been witnessed or pretend to ignore it.

"Sorry, um, Ginny and I need a little help putting things away." Percy finally said. He seemed to have made the decision for everyone to ignore what he had just witnessed. Arrie numbly nodded and followed him. She peeked at Vincent surreptitiously as she moved by him. He didn't speak as she passed and barely glanced at her.

"See you later," She mumbled.

"Yeah, sure. See you in a bit." he said before turning and limping toward his tower, his hair hiding his face.

Arrie stopped and stood outside of the kitchen for a moment longer hiding in the hallway, trying to process everything that had just happened. Her hands were still shaking, and her heart was pounding erratically in her chest in an attempt to smash its way right out of her rib cage. She couldn't believe it. She had kissed Vincent. She leaned against the wall, her mind reeling. He had tasted like mint and wood smoke, a surprisingly amazing combination. His lips had been soft, yet persistent.

She had finally done it. She had laid bare her soul and her feelings and the end result was an awkward interruption and then an even more awkward dismissal. Her stomach roiled with nerves and uncertainty. What had she been thinking? He probably thought she was insane_. But he kissed you back, _she tried arguing with herself. She took another thirty seconds in the dark hallway to compose herself and steady her breathing. Then finding some sort of resolve, she pushed open the swinging kitchen door and entered the room.

She found Ginny and Percy putting away groceries and whispering. They glanced at her before pretending to not notice her, and turned back to putting things away. The quiet was deafening. Arrie moved around them stuffing things away that were either to low or too high for them to reach, the cabinets banging loudly. When she could no longer stand the tense silence, she turned on them.

"Okay, what do you guys want me to say?" she demanded irritably, her nerves finally winning out and causing her to snap more than she meant to. Ginny and Percy looked at each other before saying together.

"We don't know what you are talking about,"

Arrie snorted in disbelief and shoved her still shaking hands into her pockets in an attempt to still them.

"Don't give me that crap." She said. Her palms were sweating and she tried to wipe them on the inside of her jeans pocket.

"What do you want us to think?" Percy asked.

Taken aback, a frown crossed Arries face as she thought about it.

"I don't honestly know." She whined, finally sinking into a kitchen chair and burying her face in her arms on the table.

Ginny and Percy exchanged a knowing glance.

"Well you like him don't you?" Ginny inquired.

"Yes, of course,"Arrie mumbled into her arms, still face down.

"Well you both looked like you were enjoying it to me," Ginny stated. Arrie's face flamed as heat rushed up her neck. Again. She vaguely wondered if it was even safe for her blood to boil this much.

"You were watching?" she asked, scandalized, looking back up at them. Ginny tried not to smile and it resulted in her lips pursing.

"Well I heard the two of you arguing and looked in to make sure you didn't destroy the house." She said.

Arrie leaned her elbows on the kitchen table and buried her faced in her hands again. After a moment she looked up. Percy had disappeared into the pantry but Ginny still stood there scrutinizing her.

"What's wrong?" she asked Arrie.

"I don't know. I'm just nervous. Terrified, actually." She said finally, picking at her nails nervously.

"What are you so scared of?" Ginny asked maternally, taking a seat across the table from her.

"Everything." Arrie confessed, now picking at a gouge on the old table. Ginny watched her for a moment before replying.

"You don't want to get hurt." She stated, staring Arrie down. Arrie shrugged her shoulders slowly, still staring at the surface of the table.

"My next question is, who would hurt you? It certainly wouldn't be Vincent. He cares for you to much to do that." Ginny said. Arrie glanced up meeting Ginny's eye.

"I don't know, he sort of just ignored me afterward, and stumped off to his tower like I didn't exist. What if I was to forward? He probably thinks I am crazy by now. I just don't want to delude myself into seeing something that isn't really there, and end up getting my hopes up to just have them brought right back down." _Not to mention my crazy Dad, his mom, Afton, the list goes on,_ she thought, as her insecurities piled up around her.

"I don't think that's true or is anything you have to worry about." Ginny reassured her.

"I guess," she said nervously.

"Just give it a chance, dear. You may surprise yourself." Ginny advised.

Arrie nodded absently deep in thought.

"I just don't want to screw up. I've never done this before. I don't want to hurt him or myself." Arrie said after a moment. "I don't know where to go from here." Ginny smiled at her.

"Just be yourself. Vincent has had enough fake floozies to last a life time. I think that's why he likes you so much. You don't suck up to him or pretend to be something you're not. I think he finds it refreshing." Ginny said patting her hand kindly.

"You think so?" Arrie asked doubtfully, looking up to meet Ginny's eyes.

Ginny nodded.

"Now enough chatter. Here's Luna's food. Also, the fireplace needs cleaning and we need more wood stacked. They are calling for some nasty weather." Said the old woman, signaling that the conversation was over.

"Thanks, Ginny." She said.

"Not a problem. Don't worry. Just be yourself." Ginny said sagely. Arrie stood from the table, a small embarrassed smile on her lips and her fear somewhat quelled for a moment. It was already two o'clock. She wondered vaguely how long she and Vincent had been in the hall. Then, blushing furiously all over again, she made her way to her room to drop off the food. There she bundled up and headed out into the cold.

Her mind wandered back to the kiss as she started the dull work of stacking firewood. If she concentrated she could still feel his lips pressed against hers, and the feel of his scars under her fingertips.

It had really been the perfect kiss. The sensation of falling as it swooped through her and set the butterflies loose. She supposed this is what sky diving or riding a roller coaster felt like. To free fall with no hope of stopping oneself, except by a parachute or safety line. Vincent was her safety line.

Despite her fear of being hurt, she had irrevocably fallen in love with Vincent now. There would be no going back. She just hoped she could trust him to not completely shatter her in the process. She honestly didn't think she would be able to handle herself if he pushed her away again, like he had when his father died. Now that she had officially reached the breaking point.

It was almost as if she was an expensive glass vase that if dropped, she would hit the floor and shatter into a million little pieces. There would be no hope of putting the shards of her heart back together after that.

Clouds built up in the wests over top of the mountains in the distance as she stacked firewood. Summer couldn't be here soon enough, she decided. She wanted warmth and color, even if it did make her hair a fluffy mess. No more stacking dirty wood, no more splinters. She took a moment to fantasize about that.

Halfway through restocking the wood pile, Arrie looked up to the sound of tires on gravel and the hum of a car motor. A sheriff's car was pulling into the driveway. Arrie knew from experience that this was probably not any form of good news, unless of course her father had been arrested. Then she would throw a party.

The wind blew icily over her, making her eyes water and her nose run. She swiped her sleeve against her nose to stop the dripping and her heart constricted tightly, nerves bunched in anticipation over what was going on. The car rolled to a stop ten feet from her.

The officer stepped from the vehicle leaving the motor running and headed toward her. He was young, probably not much older than herself, she figured. His hair was short and neat like his uniform and his broad hat hid his blue eyes from the sun's glare. Arrie thought she recognized him. She thought he might have gone to school with her, albeit he would be a couple of years older.

"Are you Arrianna Green?" he asked stopping just short of the bottom stair and looked up at her with a faint smile.

"Yeah, why?" The officer stepped up onto the porch and removed his hat. A faint look of recognition entered his eyes.

"Don't I know you? Didn't we go to school together? " He asked. Arrie shrugged her shoulders. The cop gave her a quizzical look, before getting down to why he was there.

"I was told I could find you here. I'm officer Sommers. The lady in the book store said she had seen you leaving one day with the butler." He told her. Arrie recognized his name when he told her, but didn't respond. She stared at him, feeling an omen looming up in front of her that boded ill news.

"The reason I'm here, is I'm looking for your father. I've got an arrest warrant out on him but, he seems to be avoiding me. I thought you might know where he is." Sommers explained, taking a step closer to her. The familiar smell of too much cologne assaulted her nose and she wrinkled it a little, thinking he had probably bathed in the foul stuff before leaving his home that morning. She took an involuntary step back, trying to get away from the overpowering smell.

Now she remembered him. He had been a senior when she was a freshman in high school. He hadn't been all bad. He was a typical jock who dated the head cheerleader. She remembered passing him in the hallways and trying to avoid him because of his tendency to overdo it with the cologne. His steady girlfriend had always liked it. It gave Arrie a pounding headache_. Obviously old habits die hard_, she thought.

"What's he done this time?" she asked, coming back to the problem at hand.

"Drug charges and skipping bond, among other things." Sommers said, staring at her quizzically.

"Oh so the usual," She finally responded before turning to drop the armful of wood onto the pile and brushing off her clothes.

"Well I haven't seen him since Christmas morning," she said, looking up into Sommer's face, only to find him watching her. She crossed her arms uncomfortably.

"Family time?" He asked, taking out a pad and pen and jotting down notes.

"Decidedly not, seeing's how he attacked me in the cemetery." Sommers looked back up at her. Behind her, she heard the door open and the clunk of Vincent's cane as he joined her. Dread filled her stomach.

"Were there any witnesses?" Arrie shook her head.

"Why didn't you report it?" He asked, lowering his note pad.

"Because, there was no point. He didn't hurt me. It's not like he would stay locked up for simple assault." Arrie said.

"Why were you in a cemetery in the first place?" he questioned. Arrie could practically feel Vincent's eyes locked on the back of her head, and she was hyper aware of him standing right behind her.

"I was visiting my mom's grave." She answered. Arrie noticed Sommers look at Vincent quizzically but didn't comment. A tense silence followed, only interrupted by the scuff of dead leaves across the driveway.

"Well, can I reach you here?" he asked, seeming to be wrapping up the interview. Arrie breathed a sigh of relief, ready for him and his bad cologne smell to be long gone.

"Yes, I'm staying here permanently." She said, earning a final gaze and eye brow raise from him. Anger bubbled up inside of her at the thought of what his small town mentality had conjured at her final statement.

"Well here is my card, if you need anything you just give me a call." He said stepping in close enough for Arrie to get an overpowering smell of his cologne again. She tried not to gag.

"I'll be in touch. Nice seeing you again. " he said, staring at her one last time. Again, feeling uncomfortable, she stepped back and ran into Vincent who grunted. Then turning, Sommers headed back down the front porch steps and back to his patrol car. Arrie sighed in relief when the door clapped shut behind him and he turned back down the driveway.

"So… What was that about? He seemed a little more concerned than completely necessary." Vincent stated, leaning on his cane and watching her.

Arrie sighed before going back to her prior chore, feeling uncomfortable now for a completely different reason.

"We went to high school together. He's a cop now and from the sounds of it, he has the happy job of hunting down my dad." She said with a noncommittal shrug. She snuck a glance at him and found him watching her with a masked expression.

"You didn't tell me you saw him in the cemetery on Christmas morning." Vincent said, a note of betrayal in his voice, after a moment.

"It wasn't a big deal. It didn't matter." Arrie turned to go back to the pile of wood and continue stacking.

"Simple assault? When did that not get to be a big deal?" Vincent asked irritably attempting to follow her.

Arrie sighed in irritation. This was NOT the conversation she wanted to have with him right now.

"It's just not, okay? He just wanted money. I took care of it, though." She said.

"Really? And how did you take care of it? Don't tell me you gave him money?" Vincent snapped.

"No, of course not. I knocked him out." She heard him snort in derision and turned to find him watching her, looking irritated and amused at the same time. After a moment, his expression became one of concern. Arrie dropped an armload of wood, trying to ignore him. When she walked by him he grabbed her arm, spinning her around to face him.

"You know you can tell me this stuff right? I'll help you however I can." He told her earnestly. Arrie peaked up from the ground and met his gaze. His green eyes bore into hers, though partially hidden behind his hair. She took a moment to observe his face, the unmarred smooth boyish innocence of his right side and the left, scarred and wrinkled. She shivered, and it had nothing to do with the cold wind that blew her hair around her face in chaos.

"Besides, Officer Obvious, wouldn't care like I do." He said, a faint grin started to form on his lips. Arrie smirked, as a small thrill of confidence swept up her spine.

"Jealous, Huh? She asked. Vincent's expression started to slip.

"I didn't say that," he said quickly, as a faint flair of red spread up his unmarred cheek.

Arrie smiled at him slightly, feeling slightly embarrassed herself.

"Alright, go back inside and let me finish my job," Arrie told him giving him a gentle push. He flashed her a faint smile as he turned to leave and her stomach had that familiar swooping sensation again.

"I see how it is. Just waiting on officer "smell good" to come back, right?" He called over his shoulder.

"Yeah, I think I am good. He is definitely not my type," Arrie said with a small laugh as she headed back to the woodpile. The door closing came to her ears and Arrie looked up to find Vincent had gone. Her heart sank a little and she shook herself mentally before going back to work. This was getting ridiculous. She shouldn't be acting like a school girl with a crush. At least their first encounter after the kiss hadn't been a total washout. Maybe there was hope for this after all.

_**AN- Okay, I'm sure you guys are thinking WTF WHY IS SHE REWRITING THIS CHAPTER AFTER SO LONG!? And my answer is simple. I started working on chapter fifteen and decided I could go no further until after I fixed the botched up mess that was this chapter. I went back, reread it and nearly died when I saw how bad it was. I know you guys probably thought I had died, and I apologize for that. The first time I put this chapter up, I was very unsatisfied with it and felt very guilty for making you guys wait so long. I am so very sorry for that. I hope this makes up for it. Also, as a gift, I have chapter 15 over halfway done, and I am hoping to have it out in about a week or so. I know that probably isn't nearly fast enough for most of you and I apologize again. But better late than never. Don't worry though, I am not giving up on this story, but you do need to be prepared for the fact that it is coming very close to the end. Sadness. This has been a very special project for me for nearly 2 years now and I owe it to you guys and to myself to do it justice. Just be patient with me. Thank you, again, for sticking with me, and I hope you like the edits. Please R&R and let me know. **_


	15. Chapter 15

**AN~ Okay, turn right around and go reread chapter 14 if you haven't already, before you read this. It's very important that you see my edits. Otherwise future chapters won't make since. Sorry for you keeping you guys waiting so long. I hope you enjoy this chapter! R&R!**

Chapter 15

The Beast Within

Arrianna sniffed in the cold, trying her best to hurry and finish outside. The wind was picking up and she could see gray clouds building in the distance. A hint of thunder was already rumbling through the air. She tried to work quickly, thinking of the hot steamy shower that was due soon after her work was done.

Cradling an arm load of wood, Arrie was too preoccupied to notice someone watching her. Out of nowhere, a gruff, strong pair of hands grabbed her from behind and shoved her head long into the woodpile. Dropping her armload of wood she stumbled and fell hard onto the rock strewn ground, vaguely aware of the stinging sensation in her palms from where she had tried to catch herself.

Trying to right herself, Arrie spun around, tripping in her haste, gravel flying, to find Danny standing above her, glowering in a drug induced haze. Arrie's heart beat erratically in her chest, as adrenaline coursed through her body. Fear and anger equally gripped her tightly, causing her breath to come in short bursts.

"What did he want?" Danny asked, swaying slightly. Arrie could tell he was drunk and high. He looked a little worse for wear. His hands were bruised all over from the many needle puncture marks that spoke of many highs. His clothes were filthy, like he had not washed them in several days and had been sleeping in the dirt to boot. His hair was plastered to his scalp with grease. The smell was unbelievable. A mixture of sour beer, whiskey and pot permeated from him.

"What did who want?" Arrie asked, even though she was pretty sure she already knew the answer. She looked fearfully back towards the house, hoping and praying no one saw them.

"The cop, what did he want?" Danny slurred.

Arrianna's stomach dropped a couple more notches. Danny had been watching her. Just like the note said. She had been trying to delude herself into thinking that maybe, after all this time, he would have just moved on, found a new target. Apparently, she had been dead wrong.

She considered lying for a moment and then decided on the truth. Maybe it would scare him off if he thought the cops were looking for him and might be back. She took a steadying breath and tried to put on a face that implied she was taking no crap off of him.

"To know where you were. You have some sort of outstanding warrant. They are looking for you," Arrie told him as she dragged herself up from the ground using the woodpile as support.

"You say anything?" Danny asked, his head twitching back and forth watching all around him. Arrie noticed his hands clenching and unclenching in tight fists and his shoulders shook erratically. He was coming down off of a severe high, meaning he could and would be dangerous to deal with if provoked.

"I would have had to have known where you were to begin with." Arrie said taking a step back. Danny stumbled after her.

"You lying to me, bitch?" Danny's hands, faster than she thought capable, latched onto her jacket collar.

"No, I'm not." Arrie was terrified. Her back collided with the woodpile, leaving her nowhere to go as Danny came even closer. He leaned his face in next to hers and she could smell his putrid breath as it washed over her, making her gag again.

"Get off me. Get away, Dad. I'm warning you." She said with more bravado than she felt. Her feet slipped on the loose gravel as she tried to remove herself from his grip. Danny let out a raucous laugh.

"What're you gonna do girl? Get the crippled boy after me? Gonna have him teach me a lesson?" He sneered.

Arrie's hand brushed against a baseball bat sized log and she grabbed it, bringing it up to collide with the side of Danny's head, much like the time she had with the frying pan. The branch cracked and broke apart on contact. Several large splinters lodged themselves into her hand, and she barely restrained the compulsion to cry out. However, it did the intended job of forcing Danny back and away from her.

"I told you to get away. I can take care of myself." She told him as she gasped for air, standing over him as he slumped on the ground.

"You need to leave. Get away from here and away from me. I don't want to have anything to do with you ever again." She told him as he stumbled to his feet. He grumbled and cursed like a mad man as he picked himself up off the ground.

"I need money. I can't leave this god forsaken shithole without it," Danny said, rubbing his jaw and glaring at her. Arrie's resolve hardened as she glared at him, disgusted with him and his habit after all these years of having to supply him.

"That's not my problem." Arrie told him flatly. She stood back from him and held a second much sturdier branch in her hands that Danny eyed warily.

"It's gonna be your problem, girl, if you don't get me some money. Aren't you working here?" He asked.

"I am, but I don't have any money for you. I'm tired of giving you money that I work hard for." She said.

"Oh is that what you call screwing that freak now? Working? I guess it could be considered a job, having to fake it." He mused after a moment, giving her a suggesting grin. Arrie repressed a shudder at what he was insinuating.

"He's not a freak. He's my friend." She spat angrily. Danny let out another laugh.

"Call it whatever you want girl. Just get me some money. I'll be back tonight to get it. And if you call the cops, there will be hell to pay. Do you hear me?" Arrie responded with an icy stare. Danny began backing away heading into a break in the shrubbery that led to the woods.

"I'll be back tonight, girl. You better have my money." He said before disappearing into the woods and out of sight.

Arrie followed him to the edge of the shrubbery and watched him until he was completely hidden and out of her view. And like that, he was gone, like some nightmarish wraith. She left the wood pile where it was and ran full tilt back up the driveway and up onto the steps, barely taking time to right herself when she slipped and nearly fell again, banging her knee on the stone steps.

Her hands were shaking so hard she was barely able to open the door into the foyer. No one was in sight as she shut it back and slid the dead bolt home into its slot. She stood for a moment with her back against it, trying to gather her thoughts. Taking in another shuddering breath, she headed for her room trying to be quiet and keeping an eye out for anyone else.

She just wanted to be alone. She rushed to her bathroom and once there she dead bolted and locked herself in, in an attempt at blocking herself away from everyone else. Then she rummaged through her medicine cabinet pulled out a pair of tweezers and turned on the warm water faucet at her sink. Biting her lip, she began the tedious process of pulling the splinters from her palms. It gave her time to think. She gasped as she pulled a particularly long and painful splinter and hot tears ran down her cheeks.

She was at a loss of what to do. She couldn't tell Vincent. He would be furious. Maybe even mad enough to throw her out. And she couldn't risk that after what had happened this morning. But on the other hand she knew what Danny was capable of after all this time as well.

She couldn't risk having the cops out here to wait on Danny to show back up, because Vincent would want to know why they were here. And she couldn't go into town and get any money out of her bank account, because that would raise suspicions as well. She was stuck. Of course this was all pending if Danny showed back up to begin with. He may very well not. Maybe she was just overreacting and freaking out for no reason. Or she could be deluding herself like the childish idiot she was.

Arrie nearly cried aloud when she accidentally stabbed herself trying to pull out another splinter. Blood drained into the sink as she rinsed her hand under the faucet. Several slithers of wood lay accumulated on her bathroom counter. After nearly twenty minutes she had all of the painful little diggers out of her skin. She turned off the faucet and started the shower before stripping off her dirty clothes and slipping into the comforting warmth of the steady rain of her shower head.

Shampooing her hair was time consuming and painful, as each tear in her hand stung from the shampoo and soap. However, it gave her time to think. She allowed her mind to flip back to what Ginny had told her earlier that day. Tell Vincent the truth.

Somehow Arrie didn't think that approach was going to work with this situation. This had always been something she had handled on her own. In the shower she continued to deliberate over her options as the hot water warmed her frozen body back up. Be honest. The words rang out in her mind continuously. Finally shutting off the water she made the decision. She was going to tell him. She just didn't know how. Maybe if she brought it up and acted like it wasn't such a big deal he wouldn't flip out.

Irritation writhed inside of her. She shouldn't be obsessing over this. She should be thinking about how wonderful the rest of her day had been and focusing on the kiss. Something that wonderful was being overshadowed by something as stupid as her dad. She hissed again as she put rubbing alcohol on her cuts and then slathered them with triple antibiotic cream and half a box of band aids. _Because that wasn't going to be obvious, _she thought, looking down at her stiffly bandaged fingers after she was done.

She continued to waste time in her room, trying to put off the inevitability of telling Vincent about her dad. She even dried and side braided her hair. Something she never did. She knew she was being a chicken, and stupid. She should be facing this situation head on instead of hiding in her room like a kid who hid under their covers to prevent monsters under the bed from getting to them.

Instead of dressing up for dinner, which she probably would have done before Danny showed up, she pulled on a pair of comfortable loose fitting gym pants and an oversized long sleeved tee shirt. She was a little sore from the encounter with Danny, to say the least. It had been a while since she had been on a defensive mode like that and after her spill in the dirt from Danny knocking her over she was stiff and her knee was badly bruised and already starting to turn a beautiful shade of green and purple.

At six, she finally resigned herself to going down to eat dinner, and fessing up and being a grown up. Pulling on a pair of sock booties she slipped out of her room with her book in one hand and Luna perched precariously on her shoulder and headed down to the kitchen.

Outside the sun was already down and the wind could be heard howling and echoing through the house. It was a little eerie. Percy, Ginny and Vincent were already in the kitchen when she arrived. Their blatant staring made her uncomfortable as she eased slowly into her chair, trying not to wince.

"I thought I was going to have to come and find you." Ginny said. She set a bowl of soup down in front of Arrie's place at the table and went on to fill two more bowls.

"Sorry, I didn't realize how long I was taking. Time got away from me." Arrie lied, as she readjusted her chair opposite Vincent's. She caught him staring at her and blushed profusely. Her chair squeaked loudly in the silence as she repositioned it, still fidgeting.

"What happened to your hands?" He asked her after an awkward silence.

"Oh I got some pretty bad splinters earlier. Rough log and all," She lied again, turning bright red. Here she had resolved to tell everyone the truth and she hadn't been in the room five minutes with them and had already lied twice. If she hadn't been so scared she would have been disgusted with herself.

Arrianna watched Vincent as little as possible throughout the meal, trying not to be obvious. Outside, thunder rumbled. She wrestled silently with herself, trying to find the courage to tell everyone about Danny.

She had several moments where she could have, but she didn't. Between that and trying not to stare at Vincent and blush every time she thought about the kiss and the fiery moment in the hallway earlier that day, she barely choked down her dinner, let alone talked.

Percy and Ginny talked casually about the weather, the economy and politics all throughout dinner. When everyone had finished, Ginny made a very big deal about cleaning up and how she didn't want any help at all. She even went as far as getting irritated with Arrianna when she tried to insist on helping.

"No, missy. You just give me that bowl and go in there and sit down in front of the fire and relax. I can handle this." She said pointedly and then cast an obvious glance towards Vincent, who was staring at the table like he thought he could set it on fire.

Arrie blushed again and shuffled out of the room without another word. She wondered if her face would ever be pale again or if it would permanently be a shade of red for the rest of her days. Maybe avoidance could be her best option. Just ignore the situation as a whole and it would all eventually go away. She had to restrain herself from snorting at her own thoughts. Who was she kidding?

She gingerly threw a couple of logs on the fire, trying to protect her hands and then closed the protective screen back over the flames before settling on an end of the overstuffed couch with her book and a blanket. She opened it to where she had last left off and began trying to read. Unfortunately, she couldn't concentrate on the written word. She sat staring at the same line again and again rereading it and not taking in a single word of the story in front of her. Her mind wandered back and forth in a never ending loop that consisted of Vincent and the kiss and her father.

She chewed on her finger out of habit as she stared into the fire, giving up on her book entirely for the moment. The flames danced merrily in the grate and the logs popped occasionally sending sparks racing up the chimney.

"Ahem." Arrianna jumped and nearly fell off of the couch. She looked around to see Vincent standing in the doorway watching her. She didn't bother to blush, because it had become such a consistent habit, that she was sure there was still one lingering from a previous mortification at dinner. 

"Mind if I join you?" he asked, already shuffling towards the far end of the couch. Arrie shook her head in silence, watching him cautiously as he attempted to settle himself into a comfortable position.

"You know, if you didn't get enough to eat, I'm sure Ginny can fix you more from the left overs. You don't have to chew your own finger off." He said casually as he flipped on the flat screen.

Yet again, Arrie found herself heating up in embarrassment. She shoved her hand under her leg, like she found it offensive.

"Sorry. Old habit." She mumbled, looking down at the floor. Outside the wind howled. Leaves and small branches banged across the front of the house onto the porch. Vincent laughed at her.

"Wanna share a blanket?" He asked after a moment as he reached into a basket pulling one out. Arrie watched his face but in the dim light, she couldn't read his expression. She nodded though, and got up to move the overstuffed foot rest down so that they could prop up their feet comfortably. She then threw a couple of pillows towards him to lean up against so that she wasn't pressed up against him directly.

Arrie could still feel him shift slightly through the wall of pillows she had constructed between them. _Just be cool, don't say anything or do anything stupid,_ she reminded herself. Her heart was pounding so hard that she could count the beats in time with every pulse through the cuts on her stiff and slightly swollen hands.

After a couple of awkward moments in which they attempted to situate themselves with the blanket, they settled back and Vincent took control of the remote and began flicking through channels to find something he deigned was worth watching. He stopped on the Dark Knight.

"This alright with you?" He asked lowering the volume so they could carry on a conversation. Arrie nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Her heart was pounding in her chest, all thoughts of her father wiped from her mind.

Vincent had initiated this. He was the one who asked her if she wanted to sit with him. Hope began to rise in her. Maybe she wasn't crazy. Maybe he really could like her. She just needed to act cool. _Don't freak out_, she thought to herself. Apart from the movie, the silence was deafening.

"So…" she said after a moment of watching the Joker terrorize a bunch of bankers. Instead of saying anything else though, she lost her nerve and lapsed into an awkward silence again, her stomach burning with embarrassment.

"Are you alright?" Vincent asked, looking down at her. She nodded, feeling like a total troll.

"About earlier today, I hope you don't think I was being pushy or making you think anything." He said.

Arrie looked over at him and noticed that he was blushing, the smooth unscarred side of his face turning a deep red. She tried to hide her smile_. At least it was him this time instead of me, _she thought, before realizing what that might actually mean for her. Her stomach jumped again with nerves. She decided to take a chance.

"I was fine with it. If I recall correctly, I think I am the one who started that." She said, looking away. Vincent looked down at her and then reached for her hand. His were surprisingly cool, she thought, as she allowed him to trace the fragile damaged skin of her palm with his index finger. The sensation sent a thrill through her akin to the one she had felt earlier that day when she had been with him. The motion he used to trace her hand with helped soothe some of the painful burn from the splinters.

"Yeah, you did. So I guess the blame is on you." He said. Arrianna frowned at him and then nudged him gently with her shoulder, being careful not to jar her hand in the process.

"It's not like you stopped me." She told him. Vincent smirked at her before jerking the pillows out from under her so that she was caught unaware and left to slump directly against him. Then taking advantage of her surprise he wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"You have no idea how long I have been wanting to do that. I just didn't have the guts to do it first." He said, pressing his lips to her temples. Arrianna smiled at him and instead of answering him she snuggled into him placing her head on his chest. She felt like the blood in her veins had turned to liquid fire, but this time, it didn't bother her. She could feel the faint pounding of his heart under his ribcage and had the strangest feeling that hers was racing to the same beat as his.

After a few moments, she took her less damaged hand and threaded her fingers through his holding it tightly. A feeling of contentment over took them. This was right. This was what was supposed to happen. She sighed happily, as they lay there together on the couch, enjoying this new quiet, heated solace. She had been so worried about what she was going to say to him, and it turned out nothing needed saying at all.

Thoughts of her father no longer clouded her vision, weighing heavily on her mind and heart. They laid there for the duration of the movie, the fire burning lower in the grate as time moved on. As the movie went off, she stood and stretched and smiled down at Vincent, who was dozing softly. It wasn't overly late and she was in no mood to rush the evening and have it over with so soon. Not after she had gone through hell and back to get this peace. She reached over and gently brushed a few stray strands of hair off of his face. Even in a light sleep, she could tell this was the happiest she had ever seen him.

_Really, what had she been so worried about to begin with?_ She thought as she strolled to the front door to grab a couple more logs for the fire. It had all really worked out well in the end. She flipped on the light and opened the front door.

Standing on the porch stood Danny, a gun in his hand and a deranged glint in his glazed eyes.

Arrie's shrill scream split the silent night into a thousand pieces.

**~ok, now you have you permission to call me ugly names. LOL. I totally left you guys on an AWESOME cliff hanger. Tell me what you think? I again want to apologize for my awful time keeping. I hit a terrible wall with chapter fourteen and I was super unsatisfied with it which in turn made chapter 15 even more difficult to write. However, once I located the flaws in 14 I was able to move on in 15 which, inevitably opens the path to the rest of the story. I hope you guys are still there and still interested in what I am writing. Please let me know in the reviews. Also, feel free to PM if you ever wonder where I've disappeared to. I'll be happy to answer. I promise, even if there are major quiet gaps from me with this story, it's not over until I officially say so. I will finish it. I owe it to you guys, who have been awesome as readers, and to myself, to finally finish this project. Again please R&R and let me know what you all think!**


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

Vincent had been an absolute, complete and total wreck all day. He had gone from irritation, to anger, to sheer bliss and then on to an unfettered, nerve wracking, anxiety that he could not control. At the center of the tumultuous storm was a vexing red head with blue eyes and he was almost positive she was trying to kill him. He'd been on an emotional roller coaster all day and now finally, he felt as if maybe, just maybe, his blood pressure might return to normal.

Indeed, he still wasn't quite sure how he had arrived at the happy circumstances he was currently enjoying. It seemed almost impossible that he was now curled up on the couch with Arrie, his arms wrapped tightly around her. His hand was idly twirling a long lock of her hair around his fingers. It felt like redemption after the hell he had lived through since his accident. Everything felt so real, so warm.

Arrie shifted slightly, moving her hand out from under the blanket. Vincent looked at it more closely now. It was covered in band aids from the numerous scratches from where she had been stacking wood earlier. From what he could see of the skin, it was irritated and raw. He couldn't see how she had been so careless to have damaged her hand that much. She could be clumsy at times, but never _that_ clumsy. When he had gone outside at the arrival of the police, her hands had been smooth and unblemished. Whatever the cop had wanted, it had obviously upset her. She had been oddly quiet all afternoon afterward and spent most of it locked in her room. He shifted slightly, trying to get into a more comfortable position keeping his arms around her.

Vincent drifted into a comfortable doze, enjoying the feeling of the walls being down, the warmth of the fire, and the closeness of having another human near him who didn't find him revolting. This was a peace to his soul. All of the torment and tragedy that had been swirling around and inside of him was finally quiet. The numbness had finally thawed. He no longer felt like he was frozen inside. Her fire had melted through and brought him back to life.

After a while, she shifted out of his arms to go mess with the fire. It took a lot of self-control not to hold on to her as she moved away. He lay there trying not to move as he felt her fingers brush against his forehead before moving off toward the porch for more wood. The embers in the fire fizzed and popped quietly and the movie on the screen hummed in the background, making the ambiance perfect in his mind.

The peace was instantly shattered as the sound of the front door swung open and Arrianna's shrill scream ripped through the quiet.

Vincent jerked fully awake instantly and sat up, his heart plummeting faster than a stone in water. Reaching frantically for his cane that was just out of reach, the sound of crashing glass came from the front hall.

He heard a gruff voice and the dull thud of someone being struck before another one of Arrianna's screams ripped through the air. Finally after, three terrifying seconds, Vincent grabbed his cane and stumbled toward the front hall as Arrianna came into view.

A filthy man shuffled into view behind her. He had a fist full of her hair bunched in his hand, the neat plaited braid she had worn over her shoulder earlier now falling to pieces. The other hand grasped a hand gun that was pressed against Arrie's temple.

Arrie had both hands twisted behind her, trying in vain to get the man to relinquish his grip on her hair. Vincent stopped automatically, one hand in the air, the other, slick with sweat, gripped his cane tightly. The man focused on him from behind Arrie.

"Not another step, cripple! I'll shoot her right here, right now! I'll blow her damn brains all over your fancy house!" he shouted. Vincent saw Arrie wince as the man stumbled, yanking her hair. He looked closer, realizing the red tint to the man's eyes. In the half light, they looked like neon signs glowing. Vincent realized he was either drunk, or high, or both. He was filthy, and looked like he had been sleeping in a ditch for weeks.

From what he knew of junkies, they were volatile, dangerous and usually desperate. Sweat began beading across Vincent's brow and his heart rate doubled, causing his chest to ache slightly.

"Everyone just calm down." he spoke quietly, shifting his weight and setting his hand down. The man aimed the gun at the floor, and fired two feet into the hard wood in front of Vincent. The noise from the gun shot was deafening. Vincent could see Arrie jerk back in pain and fear, struggling to get away.

"I said not to move, Cripple!" He shouted, returning the gun to Arries temple. She screamed from where the heat of the barrel burned her scalp and struggled violently. Vincent put his hand back in the air immediately, feeling sick. His hand gripping the cane slipped, nearly causing him to lose his balance.

"Drop the cane!" The main shouted, swinging the gun back toward Vincent. Heart pounding, Vincent did as he was ordered. It clattered to the ground loudly and rolled under the couch. Terror gripped him in a suffocating choke hold, pressing down like a stone on his lungs. Terror that he hadn't felt since his own attack so long ago, only this time it was a thousand times worse with Arrie at the mercy of this lunatic.

"Move! Now! Towards the lamp. Turn it on!" The man shouted, now aiming the gun at Vincent.

Vincent slowly moved one foot towards the lamp. He hadn't tried walking without his cane much because it always resulted in disaster. And just like all the times before, his foot couldn't take his weight and he fell hard, from the madman and Arrie. Vincent barely had time to roll onto his side before the man's boots made contact with his ribs. He grunted as pain shot through his left side. He felt the crack of his rib cage.

Shame, hot and vengeful rushed over him. Like before, all he could do was lay there and endure the pain and humiliation as the man continued to assault him.

"NO! Dad! Stop! You're hurting him!" Arrianna's shrieks pierced the air and Vincent became aware of her fighting against the man.

Somewhere deep inside, a caged animal reared its head and roared in anger and revulsion. _This sick pig was Arries father_? The man turned his attention from Vincent back to Arrianna who was fighting him furiously, kicking, punching, biting and clawing. Vincent used the distraction to pull himself up along-side the end table next to the couch, breathing heavily, his lungs full of fire. He reached for the lamp and managed to get the switched flicked on as the man released Arrie with a gruff shove. She stumbled and fell on top of Vincent sending them both sprawling back onto the floor.

Arrie looked livid and a little deranged herself, with blood staining her teeth and running from the corner of her mouth and down her chin from where her father had struck her across the face.

"Are you alright?" Vincent wheezed as she crawled to him.

"Yeah, fine, are you?" She asked reaching him and grabbing his arm. Vincent could feel her shaking hard, her hands grasping his upper arm tightly.

"Get up! Both of you! Now!" Danny shouted.

Awkwardly, Vincent was able to wrap his arm around Arrie's shoulder and they both were able to stand, him leaning heavily on her. Arrie wrapped her own arm around his waist for added support.

"What the hell do you want, Danny?" Arrie demanded, shifting her weight to better hang on to Vincent. He hissed when she added pressure to his injured ribs.

"Shut up! Don't talk. Move over there." Danny ordered pointing the gun towards the opposite end of the room, away from the entrance. Somewhere in the distance Vincent heard another door slam shut.

"What the hell?" Danny asked wildly, looking around. They all stood stiffly in the silence for a moment. Danny began pacing in a circle, muttering to himself.

"Where's the old man and woman I've seen around here?" he asked suddenly, turning back to Vincent and Arrie.

"Gone," Said Arrie, a definite note of defiance in her voice. Vincent prayed silently, hoping against hope that Percy and Ginny would have had the sense to run and to call the police. This madman would have killed them without thinking about it at all. He just had to keep this man, Arrie's father, distracted long enough for help to arrive and prevent their own imminent murder. _Piece of cake,_ he thought, feeling more useless by the second.

"Son of a bitch," Danny muttered. Vincent's stomach dropped. He had to keep Arrie's father distracted. He couldn't fight his way out of this, so he would have to rely on talking him down. Either way, chances were not stacking in their favor.

"What do you want?" He demanded, glaring at Danny as he spoke. Arrie squeezed his hand in a silent warning. Danny smiled then, all rotten teeth showing and stepped forward slowly, his unshaven features contrasting darkly in the dim light of the lamp.

"What do I want? What do I want?" he asked with a humorless laugh.

"This little bitch," He gestured at Arrie violently, "Has ruined my whole life! Everything! She has taken EVERYTHING from me!" He finished with an anguished shout and ran his hand through his filthy, disheveled hair in agitation and began pacing in front of them.

"What do I want?" He repeated again, coming to a stop closer to them.

"I have not-"Arrie started but stopped mid-sentence as Danny lurched towards her and pointed the gun at her again.

"Shut up! Who asked you?" he slurred. Arrie took a step slightly in front of Vincent to shield his body with her own. Vincent tried to move around her to talk to Danny more directly, to remove Arrie from his direct line of vision and wrath. Vincent felt Arrie's fingers squeeze his own in a second warning. He squeezed back, trying to impress on her to remain silent.

"What will it take? What will it take to get you to leave and not come back?" Vincent asked, turning his full attention back to Danny, preparing to do anything to keep her safe.

The hand with the gun lowered to Danny's side as he stared at them considering his options for a moment.

"What are you offering?" he asked after a moment.

"Anything, money. How much do you want?" Vincent asked. Danny smirked.

"Fifty Grand. All cash." He suggested after a moment.

"Done." Vincent agreed immediately. Behind him Arrie let out a gasp.

"No, you can't do that." She hissed in his ear.

"I told you to Shut up. You don't know what you are talking about." Danny's eyes flashed to her before back to Vincent.

Vincent shot Arrie a look, this time pleading with her again to be quiet.

"You have fifty grand in cash just sitting around?" He asked skeptically.

"Of course not. It's in the safe in my room." Vincent answered, watching the gun. Danny's eyes seemed to brighten.

"Yeah, rich moron's like you would do something like that," He said, voice dripping with smugness.

"You probably wipe your ass with twenties," he spat. Vincent kept his mouth shut. The pig could think what he wanted so long as he left them unharmed.

"Alright your crippledness. Let's go on a little trip shall we? All three of us." He added leering at them.

"Put down the gun and we can go." Vincent told him, taking a step in front of Arrie to completely shield her from Danny.

"Excuse me?" Danny snapped.

"You heard me. Put down the gun, and I'll take you to the safe and give you the combo. You can get the cash. I won't stop you from leaving, I won't call the cops after you're gone. Just put down the gun." Vincent said again. Danny walked towards him, slowly a half smile turning up the side of his nasty mouth.

"You want me to put the gun down?" he asked, getting within inches of Vincent's face. Vincent tried to keep from blinking and stared back at the repulsive man. Before Vincent could even react, Danny struck him across the chin with the butt of the gun, bruising his jaw and causing him to fall.

"NO!" Arrie screamed and dropped to her knees instantly, her hands flying over his face, gently touching him to assess the damage. Her fingers had just barely swept over his chin before she jerked back and screamed even louder as Danny hauled her to her feet by her hair. Head ringing Vincent looked up, bright spots flashing in his vision, the shock of the blow still registering.

"Alright, cripple. The gun's gone" Danny said. Vincent saw the handle sticking out of the waist band of the ragged jeans. The relief he felt disappeared when he noticed it had only been replaced by a large hunting knife that Danny was currently pressing against Arrie's throat.

"Get up. Lead the way to this magical safe, Cripple." He said, gesturing to the door with his head. Vincent reached for his cane and began pulling himself up. Just as he had nearly righted himself, Danny stepped forward and kicked the cane away, nearly causing Vincent to fall again as it clattered away for a second time.

"No cane, Cripple. Man up." Danny said, his face twisted into a half smile. Arrie tried to struggle against him and kicked him in the shins.

"Shit! None of that you dirty, little, bitch." He hissed, pressing the blade against her throat.

"Alright, let's go! Enough of this!" Danny shouted his mouth next to Arrie's ear. She winced and moved her head away from him. Her eyes met Vincent's for a brief moment and he knew then, she was planning something of her own. He only hoped she didn't do something to get them both killed.

Taking a deep breath, Vincent turned his back to the pair, feeling completely exposed. It would be a miracle if they made it to his tower at all. Danny had made it clear he was not to use his cane, which was going to be problematic. Vincent could barely walk across his bedroom without it. Let alone up two flights of stairs and through the dark hall ways.

"Let's get a move on, Cripple, I don't have all night, and neither does she if you get my drift." Danny chuckled to himself. Anger and embarrassment refused to release its grip on Vincent. He could feel Arrie's eyes drilling into him, could almost feel her sympathy for him, her emotions that tangible, hanging in the air.

Vincent took a step forward, his humiliation nearly enough to kill him. Who was he kidding trying to play the hero? All he was doing was prolonging his and Arrie's inevitable demise. He could do nothing to save either one of them, and when he got to the safe, what would he do then, when there was no money and no means of escape.

Slowly he put his deformed foot down, and gently put pressure on it. When it didn't buckle under him he limped forward. It was painful, but the adrenaline rushing through his system kept it under control. He took another step forward and then another. It was slow progress, but progress none the less. How ironic he thought, that the first time he was able to walk from one side of the room to the other after his accident unaided was when his life was in mortal danger.

"Pick up the pace, Cripple." Danny snapped from behind as Vincent mounted the stairs slowly.

"I'm going as fast as I can. It may have escaped your notice, but I have a little trouble walking." He hissed, not turning to look at the duo behind him, unable and unwilling to see the pity he knew would be screaming at him from Arrie's eyes.

"Either you get moving, or I'm gonna bleed her dry." Danny said. Vincent turned around, horrified to see that Danny had the blade pressed so hard to Arries throat that specks of blood were beading up where it broke the skin.

"Stop, you're hurting her!" Vincent shouted, panic welling up in his chest.

"It's fine, Vincent. I'm fine. Just keep moving. I've got this." She gasped. Vincent felt shame flood his stomach. She was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it. He was useless. He had always been useless, and he was going to continue to be useless. He was going to have to watch her die, and not be able to do a damn thing to prevent it. Even now, with a knife to her throat she was tougher and harder than he could have ever hoped to be.

"Move." Danny commanded. The trio began the ascent of the stairs climbing slowly. The stairs were a little easier to maneuver than Vincent expected. He was able to hang on to the hand rail and use his arms to stabilize himself. Behind him, he could hear a barrage of insults flying between Danny and Arrie.

"You are a sick son of a bitch! A drunken, useless, piece of shit. No wonder mom left." Arrie growled.

"Shut UP, you little brat. I should have gotten rid of you before you ever got out of your mom's nasty- umph" Danny grunted as Arrie's elbow made contact with his stomach. Danny doubled over, dropping the knife from Arrianna's throat. Vincent turned around in time to see her send a swift kick to his midsection that toppled him back down the stairs. Then she kicked the knife into a dark corner.

"RUN!" she shouted charging up the stairs towards Vincent. She grabbed his arm and all but hauled him up the stairs behind her. At the landing she threw his arm over her shoulder and together they ran toward Vincent's tower. For once Vincent was thankful for the confusing lay out of the old house. They crashed up the stairs into his room and shoved the door shut, sliding the dead bolt into place as the sounds of Danny on the second floor reached them. They could hear him swearing loudly as he slammed doors, checking rooms for them.

"Quick! Help me move the dresser!" Arrie instructed, panting heavily. Together, she and Vincent managed to push the heavy wooden piece of furniture in front of the door.

"Ok. What can we do? Can we get out of here?" Arrie asked searching frantically around the room. Vincent located his spare cane, before shuffling quickly to join her next to the window. The sounds of Danny slamming doors and continued swearing reached them, slightly muffled through the door.

"Are you alright?" Vincent asked grabbing her arm and pulling her around to face him. She was shaking hard from all of the adrenaline, her face and neck were flushed and a thin scratch slid across her neck from where Danny had held the knife. Vincent placed his hand on her neck and slid his thumb across the cut, smearing her blood as he went. Beneath her skin, he could feel her pulse pounding furiously, matching his own.

"Yes, I'm alright, but we have to get out of here. He is gonna be here in a second." She said turning back to the window away from him. Vincent felt his heart squeeze tightly in his chest, her panic easily transferring to him. She was right. He turned his attention to the window as well and began looking for a way down. The smooth brick and stone showed no signs of anywhere that they could get down alive.

"Vincent! Look." She breathed next to him suddenly, eyes fixed on something outside in the distance through the dense trees he could make out the distinctive flashing blue lights of patrol cars speeding in their direction.

"Percy and Ginny! They called them!" Arrie nearly sagged to the floor in relief, gripping the window for support. . Vincent shuffled over to the light switch and began flicking it on and off desperately.

"What are you doing?" Arrie asked, rushing over to him, looking at him like he had lost his mind.

"Signaling them to where we are!" Vincent explained in a rush. Arrie's jaw fell slack as she stared at him.

"Brilliant!" Arrie exclaimed after a second and then she ran from window to window around the room opening all of the curtains as far as they could go to help the signal be as visible as possible. Vincent turned to catch her attention when an earth shattering bang rent the air and bits of wood exploded from by the door where the antique dresser stood in front of it. The door shuddered and slammed against the back of the dresser, the sound of heavy breathing and swearing coming from the other side. Danny had found them.

Arrie ran across the room to grab Vincent as Danny slammed against the door again and succeeded in pushing the dresser out from in front of it. He swung the gun violently firing at random twice, hitting and shattering one window. The second bullet imbedded itself into the frame of Vincent's bed, less than half a foot away from his leg. Then advancing like a madman, Danny charged at Vincent and struck him across the face with the butt of the gun, much harder than the first time, sending him sprawling across the floor yet again.

Vincent's vision flickered in and out of focus as he tried to lift his head from where he lay on the floor. It felt swollen and heavy, like he had a concussion. Shards of glass crunched under him, cutting into his bare hands as he tried to push himself up from the floor.

A dull thud and grunt came from the general direction of Arrie and Danny. Then an earth shattering scream ripped the room into a thousand pieces as the shrill screams from Arrie pierced his brain, digging in and reverberating off of his ear drums. She was in pain. Ungodly amounts of pain, to be screaming like that.

Vincent slowly focused his eyes onto her. She lay ten feet away from him. Danny had her pinned to the floor and was sitting on her chest, one arm pinned under his knee. Her other arm was stretched across the floor, her hand pressed flat against it with the knife point imbedded between the grooves of her first two knuckles. He was twisting the point into her, laughing viciously as she continued to scream in ragged agony, her legs kicking and twisting in a desperate attempt to free herself.

Vincent slowly pushed himself up off the floor. His palms were coated in glass shards and bleeding, but the pain wasn't registering. After what felt like an eternity, he was able to pull himself to his feet, ears ringing with Arrie's screams. The room spun around sickeningly, the walls swinging like he had a bad case of vertigo.

Danny was oblivious to him, so intent on carving out Arrie's hand. Vincent saw as he pulled the point out of her hand and then embedded it into the space between the next two knuckles.

"God stop! Make it stop! Please!" Arrie screamed and thrashed, tears cutting tracks down her cheeks. Vincent felt sick, as he saw blood pool up from the wounds in her hand and drip onto the floor. He felt nausea sweep through him and fought the urge to vomit right then and there as the light seemed to flicker in his vision. He walked towards Danny and Arrie, unnoticed as Arrie let out another ear splitting scream.

"Each one, for each day in jail because of you," Vincent heard Danny tell her as he got within ear shot of them. He still hadn't noticed Vincent approach from behind. Gripping his cane tightly with both hands, Vincent swung the cane like a golf club. The sound of the satisfying crunch confirmed contact with Danny's skull. He rolled off of Arrie groaning, knife forgotten, still embedded in Arrie's hand as he gripped the back of his skull and howled in pain.

Vincent slid to the floor and wrenched the knife out of Arrie's hand. She winced as the cold metal slid out of her skin but didn't scream again. She rolled onto her side, cradling her hand to her chest and slowly pulled herself into a sitting position, drawing her knees up to her chest. Her breathing was ragged and harsh, the only sound in the sudden silence. Vincent pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her as more tears made their way down her face.

Danny was slowly crawling to all fours. Cursing profusely, he managed to stand unsteadily. He rubbed the back of his head where Vincent had struck him and then ran a hand over his face.

"Don't touch her again." Vincent told him. He felt Arrie turn her face into his shoulder, continuing to shake.

"Or what?" Danny taunted. He pulled the gun from his waistband and pointed it slowly at Vincent. Vincent placed his hand over Arrie's face to keep her from seeing, holding her pressed firmly against his chest. He didn't bother to answer Danny, but instead spoke quietly to Arrie.

"Shh. It's almost over. It's almost over." He whispered in her ear.

"You know what, Crippled. I'm tired of you. Rich, self- entitled brat." He spat. Vincent stared at the gun and then his eyes slid to Danny's. The defiance in them was the only thing he had left. Danny's eyes were shining and rimmed red, the hand on the gun shaking. The crash from the drug would be here soon, but unfortunately it would be too late for him and Arrie. This was it. Vincent could feel the solid wall behind his back with so where to go, trapping them.

The gun made a soft click as Danny loaded a bullet into the chamber. Vincent's eyes found Arrie's. They were wide and piercing blue, filled with tears but, unafraid, defiant and proud. He loved those eyes. Those eyes that knew his deepest and darkest moments, the ones that could always pull him back from any precipice.

"Look at me, Arrie. Keeping looking at me." He told her softly.

When the gun shot went off, Vincent expected to feel the metal shards of the bullet to rip through his body and to feel the white hot pain, not unlike how he had felt when he was attacked so long ago by O'mally's Gang. But he didn't. There was no pain. He never even felt it, which was confusing.

Vincent's eyes left Arrie's and went to Danny, who stood stupefied for a moment, the gun still hanging from his hand. Then Vincent noticed the patch of red blooming across Danny's chest. Then in slow motion, he fell to his knees and dropped the gun. Danny's eyes became more unfocused , surprise covering his features before he took one last breath and slumped forward and lay still finally, unmoving.

Vincent turned to find the source of Danny's demise. The officer that had been at the house earlier that day was holstering his weapon and running across the room toward them. A second cop followed and knelt next to Danny, pressing his fingers to his neck before confirming that he was dead. Sommers knelt down in front of them and reached for Arrie's hand, pulling it away from where she had it pressed against her chest.

"Are you alright?" He asked, placing two fingers against her neck checking her pulse.

"Jesus! Can I get a medic in here? " he shouted, looking at her mangled hand. Vincent could feel her shaking uncontrollably. The cop knelt next to them, watching her closely.

"Arrie, look at me, honey, come on." Vincent said, grabbing her uninjured hand in his and squeezing it. She looked at him and smiled faintly. Panic and adrenalin were still rushing through his system. A large cut on his temple bled profusely, running down the side of his face.

"He's gone." She said simply. Vincent nodded.

"What happened?" Sommers demanded.

"He attacked her when she opened the front door." Vincent explained. The cop looked at Arrie.

"Shit that's a lot of blood. Where's that medic?" he shouted over his shoulder. Vincent could see the shapes of multiple police in uniform milling around now, directing crime scene techs to snap photos of the over turned dresser and the motionless body of Danny Green.

"Come on Arrie, stay with me. Stay awake. Tell me what happened." The cop insisted in a low urgent voice.

"He was waiting for me, he said he would come back. He…. He hurt Vincent. Hit him with his gun," Arrie slurred. She had closed her eyes and leaned her head back against Vincent's shoulder.

"No Arrie, you can't go to sleep honey, stay with me. Come on. Let me see those beautiful blues," The Sommers told her, gently shaking her shoulder.

"Thanks for shooting him," Arrie mumbled, opening her eyes after a moment to look at Sommers.

"You're welcome, Everything's going to be fine now." He said, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. Vincent felt unbridled rage flow through him. Or jealousy. Whatever.

"Go find that damn medic!" Vincent stormed. Sommers gave him a withering look and then left in search of the medic, disappearing into the chaos, shouting as he went down the hall. Vincent shook Arrie when her eyes fluttered closed again.

"Come on, Arrie. Come on, please. I need you to stay awake. I need you." Vincent begged. He noticed her eye brows raise slightly, and a faint smile tugged at her lips. She didn't open her eyes but she spoke.

"You just want me to kiss you again." She mumbled. Vincent couldn't help it. He laughed with relief.

"Yes, I do. Now wake up and tell me to do something. Anything. Yell at me. Do whatever, just stay awake." Vincent told her. He started rubbing her arms trying to keep the blood flowing in them. Suddenly her uninjured hand jerked out and grabbing his shirt, she pulled him toward her and sat forward enough to press her lips against him. He sat there in shock for a moment, before kissing her back. They broke apart only when the medics arrived.

"You told me to do something to you." She said closing her eyes and leaning back against him again. Vincent snorted, before he could stop himself.

"Alright, let's get a look at that hand, sweetie." One of the medics addressed Arrie, and slowly extended her injured hand out to exam it.

"Can you move it at all? Like wiggle your fingers or anything?" The medic asked her. Arrie did as she was asked and wiggled her fingers, but hissed with pain.

"That's good. He didn't get any major nerves or arteries." The medic informed them. She ripped open a fresh pack of gauze and started wrapping it tightly around Arrie's hand.

"Anything else hurting?" The medic asked. Arrie nodded slowly.

"I think my shoulder is dislocated." She said. The medic made a note on a clipboard.

"Alright, well we are gonna go ahead and get you on a board and get in the ambulance, okay sweetie?" Arrie nodded again. The medic turned to Vincent.

"What about you? That cut looks pretty serious. Anything else?" she asked. Vincent realized for the first time that blood was trailing down the side of his face in copious amounts.

"He kicked me pretty good in the ribs. It hurts to take a deep breath." Vincent told her. The medic nodded.

"Can I get a second board in here? Got a possible fractured rib cage, with a concussion!" She shouted over her shoulder to the hall where more uniformed people lingered.

"You are nothing but trouble." He informed her, kissing her lightly on the top of the head.

"I'm worth it though, right?" She mumbled tiredly.

"Always." With that both Vincent and Arrie dozed lightly as the medics prepped them for transportation.

A shout from the hallway and few muttered curses could be heard as Percy and Ginny pushed their way through the crowd, calling their names. Officer Sommers stopped them at the door, preventing them from entering.

"They are both alright, but they are going to have to make a trip to the ER. Are you the ones who made the initial call?" Sommers asked, pulling out a pad and pen.

"Yes, I made the call." Percy confirmed.

"Could I get a statement from you right quick?" The older couple nodded. Vincent saw Ginny craning her neck to try to get a better look at them. He waved half heartedly from his place on the floor.

"We will see you at the hospital soon!"Ginny told him before they turned and followed Sommers back down the hall.

Soon the medics shifted Arrie out of his arms and gently helped her lay on the gurney. Her blood had soaked his shirt, leaving behind a coppery, metallic scent.

He looked over at her as he was loaded into the ambulance along side her. She was holding her hand against her chest again, staring at him through half lidded eyes, head turned to the side. Her blue orbs pierced his very soul.

"Rest, you look like you're about to pass out. I'll be right here." He told her. She nodded and closed her eyes.

He leaned back, fighting his own exhaustion. Everything ached. Now that the danger was gone, the adrenalin rush he had experienced was leaving him completely depleted. When the medic inserted the needle into his arm with a dose of pain reliever, he finally allowed himself to slip into the darkness.

_**~AN~**_

**Thanks for sticking with me! Sorry it took so long. I hope it was worth it! Please review!**


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